News & Press Releases
Honeybees Saved!
Monroe, NC. April 30 2007: Monroe Mall saves endangered honeybee colony
A honeybee hive was discovered last weekend at Monroe Mall near one of the entrances to the Belk Store. Mall management immediately contacted a local beekeeper to advise them on the procedures they should follow for removing the hive. After determining that these were honeybees, the Mall knew the hive would need to be relocated because the honeybees are endangered.
According to Caroline Adams, Director of Marketing at Monroe Mall, “The procedure to collect the bees for relocation lasted about 2 hours and was done at 7:00am because that is the time bees are least active.”
There’s an odd thing happening to honeybees, not just in Charlotte but all over the United States . . . they’re disappearing and no one seems to know why. There are several theories - pesticides, diseases, microwaves from cell phones - no one knows for sure, but honeybees fly off in search of pollen and nectar and never return to their colonies. Honeybees are important because in the United States alone they are responsible for 25% of the pollination needed for all fruit produced for human consumption. That’s a big deal and that’s why they’re protected.
Professional beekeeper Bill Powers extracted the honeybee colony - hive, comb and all. He used an environmentally friendly technique that required no harmful chemicals for man or bees. 95% of the bees were safely collected with a "bee vac". The remaining bees were too weak and would not have survived the on their own. The healthy bees and their hive were taken to the Belk Family Farm in Waxhaw, NC where they were introduced to an existing hive there. Mr. Powers deemed this relocation “a total success”.
"Monroe Mall is committed to maintaining a healthy environment for all in our community. By relocating the honeybees to the Belk Family Farm we were also able to help maintain the protected honeybee population," said Caroline Adams.
Contact:
Caroline Adams
Madison Marquette
704.289.6547 x 21
cadams@mmrs.com
