500,000 Bees Killed in Netherlands Arson Attack.
A Dutch beekeeper has voiced shock after his ten colonies were set ablaze in a public garden in the central city of Almere, causing the death of an estimated half a million bees.
The beekeeper stated that each hive housed a colony of forty to sixty thousand bees, and the idea that anyone could destroy them was devastating.
"It is deeply painful that my ten colonies have died," he informed regional media.
Law enforcement in Almere, which sits to the northeast of Amsterdam, have appealed for observers after the arson attack on Tuesday night in the city's picturesque Beatrixpark. They shared pictures of the fire on online platforms.
The Dutch government reports that more than half of the nation's 360 species of bee are at threat of dying out, as the population of bees decreases globally.
The beekeeper explained that authorities had informed him an accelerant had been used to ignite the colonies, which were placed on pallets in a wooded part of the garden.
Barely any of the bees survived and he said that he had little faith the arsonist would be apprehended.
Fellow beekeeper Heleen Nieman told national radio that she had three hives and wanted to donate one of them.
For Mr Stringer, who looked after the bees for about nine years, the fire means building a new colony in the park from scratch.
But he affirms he will not give up.
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