Bellbrae beekeeper stung by brazen bee theft

AN ANGLESEA beekeeper is counting the cost after having several thousand dollars’ worth of bees stolen from hives at Bellbrae, and suspects a fellow bee enthusiast may be responsible.

Michael Noakes has looked after 14 beehives located off School Road for more than 20 years, but discovered last month that someone had broken into the hives about six weeks ago.

He said the crime, which has been reported to police, involved someone bringing a four-wheel drive next to the hives, moving all the honey bees and honey inside into separate hives, then re-assembling the original hives and driving away.

“They’ve emptied the hives but left the rest intact.

“It’s a despicable crime.

“When I was doing my regular inspection, I was just looking at the outside of the hives, as I usually do, and they looked fine.”

Mr Noakes realised only recently that his hives had been tampered with, based on the recolonisation of the hives, and the theft had cost him about $8,000 worth of honey.

“It would take a beekeeper to do it; it was very carefully done.”

He said the theft of just the contents of the hives was highly unusual in beekeeping circles.

“No-one’s ever heard of it happening – they’ve heard of hives being stolen, not hives being stolen and then put back together.”

Mr Noakes said his bees were very identifiable as they were Ligurian bees.

Originally from northern Italy, Ligurian bees were introduced to Kangaroo Island in the 1880s – the island’s bees are prized as they are believed to be the last genetically pure strain of the species in the world.