In short:
Beekeepers have reported dozens of stolen hives, containing nearly 500,000 bees in total.
asserted
Beekeepers → report → total
The thefts took place across two sites on the Atherton Tablelands.
What's next?
asserted
What → take → Tablelands
Police are investigating the incident and suspect the culprit is a semi-commercial to commercial beekeeper.
asserted
culprit → investigate → incident
Police are investigating the thefts of multiple beehives worth tens of thousands of dollars from properties in Far North Queensland.
asserted
Police → investigate → Queensland
Investigators say they believe frames of bees and their broods were taken from 41 commercial hives on the Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns, and put into the thief's separate hive boxes.
asserted
frames → say → boxes
Commercial beekeeper Jack Laughton was "distraught" when he first discovered 14 empty beehives at a property in Kairi on September 10.
asserted
he → discover → September
"I was completely gutted because the amount of work that goes in preparing beehives to a good quality, to a high standard, is quite a lot of work,"he
asserted
that → gutte → work,"he
"It's a bit of a shock to the system just to open a [hive] where you would normally see bees, expect a full, healthy hive, and there's just nothing."
asserted
you → open → hive
Mr Laughton said each hive contained about 15,000 bees, nearly 500,000 stolen in total.
asserted
hive → say → total
Tom Bidner, who managed Mr Laughton's beehives, said over the next two days, another 27 hives were found empty at a Mutchilba property.
asserted
hives → manage → property
"Brood nests have been gutted and hives put back together … which is an initial loss of property, somewhere around up to $20,000 worth of hives so far,"Mr Bidner said.
asserted
Bidner → gutte → hives
"Beyond that, we've lost anywhere up to $10,000 worth of pollination income.
asserted
we → lose → income
"Then we are setting ourselves up for our main honey season, so there'll be the flow-on of that over the next three to four months of our best … honey-production time."
asserted
we → set → time
Mr Bidner said the entire breeding system of each hive, including the queen, had been taken.
asserted
system → say → queen
Varroa mite was detected in Far North Queensland last week, and he said this issue, on top of the pest threat, was adding further stress.
asserted
issue → detect → stress
"It's just a double whammy for us at the moment," he said.
asserted
he → say → moment
Authorities suspect experienced beekeeper
Mr Laughton and Mr Bidner have reported the thefts to the police.
asserted
Laughton → suspect → police
Detective Sergeant Ben Cross from the Mareeba Rural and Stock Crime Squad said he suspected the perpetrator was an experienced beekeeper.
asserted
perpetrator → say → Squad
"We believe that it's possibly someone that is semi-commercial,"he said.
uncertain
that → believe → ?
"From what we can understand, from where they've been taken and what the purpose of the bees was and their location, we're of the belief that it's possibly more of a commercial operation than a hobby farmer."
uncertain
it → understand → farmer
He said beehive thefts were not common but had occurred before.
asserted
thefts → say → ?
He urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.
asserted
He → urge → Stoppers
Mr Bidner said he believed those responsible knew what they were doing and how to handle bees.
asserted
they → say → bees
"This doesn't take 10 minutes.
asserted
This → take → ?
This is someone [who has] been there for a couple of hours and likely more than one person helping achieve this in that sort of time frame," he said
"[The hives] are most likely sitting on someone's farm right now doing pollination with them totally unbeknownst."
Flow-on effects
Sergeant Cross said that while these thefts affected the beekeepers involved, they also hit farmers who rely on pollination for crops, particularly in horticulture.
asserted
who → help → horticulture
"These commercial operators have their hives on farms for the purpose of pollination to increase crop and also fruit yield, and that impacts [farmers]," he said.
"
asserted
he → have → farmers
When those colonies are diminished, it's obviously going to be a knock-on effect there.
asserted
it → diminish → ?
"The beekeeper doesn't get their money from the farmers for having the hives there; the yield is decreased also in terms of honey from those hives, and then also from the fruit that then is not produced on those farms."
asserted
that → get → farms
The Aporia
