Bill Termeer believes the person who stole $60,000 worth of honey, hives, frames and bees from his Peace River area farm has to be someone in the industry.
“I believe it has to be a neighbouring beekeeper,” said Termeer of Sexsmith, Alta.
The hives were stolen from eight remote locations near Wanham and Teepee Creek over a three to four week period.
“These are difficult to find. It’s got to be someone who knew where they were.”
Unlike stealing other livestock, only a commercial beekeeper with the proper clothes, hat, gloves and smoker would know how to remove the frames, he said.
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Termeer said the thief removed the inside frames full of honey, the queen and the brood and stuck empty frames back in, which is why it took longer to discover the theft.
The hives should be “boiling with bees” during the summer.
Instead, the hives were barely active.
Termeer has taken pollen samples from the replacement frames to be analyzed to find anything that might stand out. Results from the lab analysis will be forwarded to the RCMP.
Termeer said he suspects the thief is someone who had high winter death losses or may be in financial difficulty and can’t afford to replace the bees after winter.
“It had to have been someone out there desperate.”
Termeer was born into a beekeeping family. He moved from central Alberta to the Peace River area in 1996 with 600 hives and has expanded to a 3,000 hive operation. He has met almost all the beekeepers in the province.
“We know each other. We talk to each other. It’s pretty hard to understand.”
