DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. – Dorchester County, South Carolina is apologizing for accidentally killing millions of bees.
The honeybees were killed by an aerial spray of a pesticide used to control mosquito populations during the weekend. The spray came after rising concerns about the Zika virus.
Registered bee owners are supposed to be warned prior to mosquito spraying but were not told this time. Bee keepers say they were devastated to see their colonies killed.
“I was angry that day, I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we spray poison from the sky,” bee owner Andrew Macke said.
Macke wants this incident to be a teaching moment. “If we turn this into a teachable moment, how important bees are to the environment and how unhealthy it is to aerial spray a pesticide,” he said.
Another bee owner said she believes it was a mistakes and is confident it wont happen again. “We have to be kind and compassionate and figure out whats going to be the best methods to treat anything, without harming the honeybees,” Flowertown Bee farm and Supply co-owner Nita Stanley said.
The insecticide used for the spraying is called Naled. Dorchester.
