BANGOR, Maine — An unusually large swarm of bees had residents living near Fairmount Park abuzz early this week, but now all that remains are a few dead bees, some caution tape and a warning sign.
“Safeway Exterminating Company responded, and when they arrived most of the bees had already dispersed,” said Tracy Willette, director of the Bangor Parks and Recreation Department. “Apparently, after he started checking around, most of the remaining bees left as well, but they sprayed the tree they were swarming around as a precaution.”
Willette said a concerned citizen living near the park called city officials to alert them about a large swarm of bees at the park early Monday.
While it’s common to get those kinds of calls sporadically over the summer, a parks and rec employee is always sent to check out each report.
“They can usually take care of it themselves, but in this case they decided it was more than what one person could handle,” Willette said. “A swarm of bees this size was unusual, and it was clustered in the certain area of a tree.
“This is apparently fairly common — where the drones surround the queen and are essentially looking to build a hive.”
Safeway employees responded later Monday and sprayed the area with pesticide. Yellow caution tape was put up around the affected area along with signs warning park users about the bees and the pesticide application.
“The tape was to keep people out until we got control of the bees,” Willette explained. “We were fortunate in this case because it occurred basically just in one corner of the park and it didn’t affect the whole park.”
Fairmount Park — located between Norway and Royal Road and one of the busiest among the 20 in Bangor — features a few walking trails, a perimeter path, a small backstop for baseball and softball games, a playground area, and an all-weather half-court basketball court.
Willette said the affected area, which was about 20 square feet, was located on the Royal Road side and far away from those other park amenities.
“The bees are all gone now, it seems. I was just over there in that area,” Willette said Wednesday afternoon. “The tape should be gone later today.”
The drones surrounded the queen? Not likely. When a hive swarms, the old queen flies off with mostly worker bees, the females. The females are the only ones who protect the hive, bring in the nectar, take care of the brood, haul pollen. The males, aka drones, cannot haul pollen or nectar. They have no stinger, they are all buzz. They spend all day flying around gathering in certain places with other drones hoping to get “lucky”. At night they go back to the hive to eat what she has made.
This applies to bees and certain males in the great State of Maine, don’t it?
Secondly, the bees are gone. Spraying pesticide is endangering other things with no benefit at all. None none none. Not a lot of thinking going on there.
The ironic thing is the people who wanted the pesticide used for removal of the bees more than likely are against the pesticides being applied that is creating the colony collapse disorder.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46815289/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/beekeepers-ask-epa-ban-pesticide-toxic-bees/#.T-Jfh7X0_bw
I hope they weren’t honey bee’s! They are endangered and are being wiped out! Without honey bee’s, WE HUMANS DIE!
This story contains an obvious logical fallacy. If the bees were already gone when the exterminators arrived, then there was no reason to spray ‘pesticide’ — which I presume means ‘bee-killing.’ So why was the pesticide applied if there were no ‘pests’ left to kill?
The story makes no factual sense. You can do better, Andy Neff.
Whether or not you agree with the action, the story was about events that occurred and actions that were taken. Not sure what my writing about it has to do with the events that were reported on.
Attacks by wild animals will grow in frequency and intensity as mankind becomes more wicked.
This is sad– what kind of bees were they? If not honey bees, someone who studies bees should have been called not a pest company! Many bees are becoming endangered and suffering problems of various kinds, and farmers are trying to figure out how to save them. The proper response to a swarm of honey bees is to call a bee keeper to capture the queen if people don’t want it about. Bees don’t hurt anyone if they don’t bother them. Spraying pesticides is unnecessary and harmful.
the police tape was perfect for this: this was an ecological “drive by shooting” right in our kids’ park. the rush to spray chemicals to deal with nature’s issues, right where children, adults, dogs and other animals go to play barefoot, to lie in the grass: it’s exactly the spot we just had a neighborhood picnic.
calmer minds can consult (with the university coop extension, with more organic bee-handler methods, etc.) but just like the bear a few years ago, the message seems to be: “Warning non-humans, if you dare to enter our park, you will be killed”.
There seems to be no Lorax to speak for the bees?
Instead of calling an extermination company, the city should have called a beekeeper, the swarm could be captured and put in a hive. Honey bees are an endangered species. Pesticides are the reason why honey bees are an endangered species, so what does the city do, contribute to more killing and destruction of honey bees. The persons responsible for these atrocities should be held accountable for their misdeeds.
That is exactly what I was thinking.
The Maine State Beekeepers Association has a “swarm team” that will come collect swarms – it is basically a nework of beekeepers all over the state.
http://mainebeekeepers.org/beekeeping-resources/honey-bee-swarm-removal/ or a telephone number 207-619-4BEE
hopefully next time they will not have the bees killed. This is really a shame.