500,000 Honeybees Perish in Netherlands Deliberate Blaze.
A Dutch beekeeper has expressed shock after his 10 beehives were set ablaze in a public garden in the central city of Almere, causing the death of an estimated 500,000 bees.
Harold Stringer mentioned that every colony contained a colony of 40-60,000 bees, and the thought that someone could kill them was horrific.
"It really hurts that my ten colonies have died," he told regional media.
Police in Almere, which sits to the east of Amsterdam, have requested observers after the deliberate fire on Tuesday night in the city's scenic Beatrixpark. They shared images of the blaze on online platforms.
The Netherlands authorities says that more than half of the country's 360 species of bee are at risk of extinction, as the number of bees decreases around the world.
Mr Stringer said that authorities had told him an accelerant had been employed to burn the hives, which were placed on wooden platforms in a forested area of the park.
Barely any of the insects survived and he noted that he had little faith the arsonist would be caught.
Another apiarist a local beekeeper stated on national radio that she had three bee colonies and planned to give him a colony.
For Mr Stringer, who looked after the bees for about almost a decade, the fire means starting a new colony in the area from scratch.
But he affirms he will not give up.
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