What killed millions of honey bees at this Everett farm?
EVERETT — The honey bee cadavers may have numbered in the millions.
Mounds of black-and-yellow stripes littered the ground last summer at Getchell Ranch, a small organic farm on Ebey Island, along the Snohomish River. All those legs and wings and mandibles and stingers, usually buzzing with activity, lay motionless.
State investigators and entomologists suspect pesticides that can be bought over the counter were the cause of death. Likely, they surmised, the bees foraged nectar and pollen from flowering plants ladened with the toxic chemicals, or drank from a contaminated water source. But they couldn’t figure out where the pesticides came from.
Nor could they confirm the exact death toll. By the time investigators got to the farm, the beekeeper had cleaned out some of the hives and moved many others to a nearby property, fearing more would get poisoned.
Bee kills like this have become rare in Washington in recent years, but the event in June serves as a cautionary tale: Misusing pesticides can bring harm to honey bees, a vital part of the state’s agriculture, and a livelihood to those who keep them. Experts urge people to avoid applying pesticides on plants while they’re in bloom, or near water sources that could attract thirsty bees, particularly on hot days. And they suggest using less toxic products.
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