Thousands of bees die when hive falls onto turnpike

Thousands of bees died Saturday when a hive apparently fell off a truck traveling north on the New Jersey Turnpike.

No motorists were harmed by the escaped bees, said turnpike authority spokesman Joseph Orlando. Around 2 p.m., he said, someone reported seeing something fall off a truck near Interchange 3 in Cherry Hill.

After learning that bees were emerging from the object, turnpike officials tracked down New Jersey's state beekeeper, Tim Shuler, who arrived to find a beehive a few feet off the side of the road on the northbound side.

Some of the bees were still in the hive, but many others were lying dead. "I could only get the ones that were still in the combs," Shuler said.

Some of the hive's honeycombs were lying on the blacktop, Shuler said, their occupants cooked by the near-100-degree heat of the afternoon. Others were hit by cars, he said, as they flew disoriented around their damaged hive.

Shuler said the hive was a nucleus hive - a relatively small enclosure that had probably contained 10,000 to 15,000 bees. Honeybees have been in short supply in recent years because of a mysterious plague known as colony collapse disorder. "Nationwide there's been a 30 percent decline since last winter," he said.

Honeybees are essential for keeping the world's agricultural system from collapsing, since farmers depend on them to pollinate many crops, including blueberries, apples, almonds, soy, pumpkins and many flowers.

Beekeepers routinely haul hives by truck to pollinate crops from Maine to Florida.

As of Sunday afternoon the hive's owner had yet to come forward and reclaim it. Shuler said he left it in a South Jersey beekeeper's care.

The turnpike authority's Orlando said he did not expect the owner to come forward. People often fail to reclaim items dropped on the turnpike. "Someone left a 14-foot boat," he said.

Shuler said that the hive should survive as long as the queen was unhurt. If she was hurt or killed, the bees will have to be combined with another hive.