Queensland bee theft: Over 800,000 bees stolen from apiaries

More than 800,000 bees have been stolen from dozens of hives in northern Queensland, Australia. Authorities and experts suspect the thefts were carried out by someone with significant professional beekeeping experience.

In the Atherton Tablelands region, beekeeper Tom Bidner reported that 44 colonies were stolen from three different apiaries. The thieves did not take the entire hives; instead, they used specialized equipment to carefully remove only the brood boxes containing the bees and frames, then reassembled the hives to avoid immediate detection. The thieves did not take any honey.

The theft occurred during the peak pollination season, particularly for avocado plantations. This has resulted in financial losses for beekeepers not only from the loss of the bees themselves but also from the loss of lucrative pollination contracts. The situation is further complicated by the presence of the Varroa mite, a parasite that poses a major threat to bee populations in Australia.