Increased Bee Death Prompts Hive Thefts in Germany

Germany is abuzz with a growing problem—hive theft. Across the country, beekeepers are stinging each other by hijacking people's hives. According to The National, hive theft in the country has nearly doubled since 2007, with 306 hives stolen in 2008 and 2009 and 164 taken in 2007.

Much like American honeybees' problems with colony collapse disorder, Germany is currently facing a bee crisis of its own. Approximately 20 percent of the country's one million honeybee colonies didn't survive the winter. Most German beekeepers blame the Varroa mite, a parasite that infests hives and causes all kinds of deformities and increased vulnerability to diseases. Other beekeepers say pesticide use and monocropping weakens hives.

But no matter what the reason for hives' deaths, beekeepers across the country are lashing out by stealing bees from others. "The thefts are happening because people have been losing their hives to the Varroa mite," Gerhard Liebig, a beekeeping expert, told The National. "The stealing is at it's worst after high-loss winters."

Germany's bee situation sounds bad, but honeybees currently face issues globally. In the U.S., bees are in the midst of a crisis dubbed colony collapse disorder, a mysterious affliction where bees fly away from their hives, never to return. Since 2006, some American beekeepers claim to have lost 30 to 90 percent of their hives. And despite the prevalence of the problem, researchers are still stumped on what's causing it. Since 2006, various scientists have thrown out explanations like microbes, viruses, cell phones, pesticide use, and environmental stress, yet no one has pinpointed  a cause.

And while the situation in Germany and the U.S. are different from each other, both bee debacles stand to seriously impact agriculture. According to The National, about one-third of the food people consume is directly or indirectly dependent on honeybees for pollination. California's almond crop alone uses about 1.4 million bee colonies every year, about one-half of America's entire bee population. If honeybees across the globe continue to deteriorate, folks around the world could find themselves with empty pantries.

It's strange to think that an insect as tiny as a bee has the power to devastate global food production. But this just goes to show you how important it is that farming take place in harmony with nature. Scientists are working hard to find a solution to world's bee woes. I hope they can come up with some answers before global crop production plummets.

Photo credit: blumenbiene via Flickr