Two million bees, hives relocated
An estimated two million bees and their hives were relocated as a raging wildfire destroyed vegetation where they forage for food in the southern Cape.
A team relocated 28 beehives to the Gift of the Givers Bee Rehabilitation Centre in Knysna due to the wildfires.
Disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers assembled a team of bee experts to rescue the insects while another team of volunteers supplied food‚ water and hygiene packs to residents displaced by the fires.
The bee team was thanked for doing an incredible job extracting and relocating hives – in the face of many stings from anxious bees – in an update posted on the Gift of the Givers Facebook page on Wednesday.
“Hives were extracted from the Botanical Gardens and Nelson Mandela University in George on October 29 and various sites in the Knysna corridor on October 30,” the post reads.
“In total, 28 beehives were relocated to the Gift of the Givers Bee Rehabilitation Centre in Knysna‚ rescuing just around two million bees.
“Owen [Williams] and his team were unbelievable in NMU. The fire was rapidly approaching their feet but they stood their ground and rescued 10 bee colonies [that is 700,000 bees].
“The bee team travelled 600km for 39 hours and have identified another 100 beehives that will require relocation due to the absence of forage in the 88‚000ha of burnt vegetation.”
Volunteers also handed out aid to 1‚000 people affected by the fires in Hornlee‚ Brenton‚ Rheenendal‚ Buffels Bay‚ Karatara‚ Sedgefield‚ Ebb and Flow and Bergplaas.
Stationery packs were handed to children and trauma counselling was offered to families. –