Ashland, Ore. — An unusual crime is being investigated by Ashland Police after a large swarm of bees and bee keeping equipment was stolen.
The Southern Oregon Beekeeping Association was called to a business in Ashland Monday night around 5:30 to remove a swarm of bees from their property.
But when bee keeper Rafael Aragon came to remove it safely Tuesday morning, someone else had gotten to it first. “When I opened up the hive to remove them, I discovered that all my equipment had been vandalized and stolen,” said Aragon.
Not only were most of the bees including the queen taken, but the thief also tried to kill them by spraying some kind of insecticide all over the area.
Aragon said even if he got his equipment back, he doesn’t expect the bees to make it. “They’ll probably die, but that’s just the sad end of this story,” said Aragon.
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