An Overturned Truck Spilled 14 Million Sting-Crazy Bees Onto A Highway Outside Of Seattle

bee
Shutterstock

How many bees would you consider to be “too many bees”? Ten? Is ten bees too many bees? Five? Two? One? Is one bee too many bees? I suppose it depends on the situation. If you’re in a huge field and there’s one little honeybee floating around, that’s probably okay. If a wasp divebombs up the leg of your gym shorts while you’re on the bus, one is definitely too many. Depends on your bee tolerance, I guess.

Whatever your answer, I think we can all agree that 14 million bees is too many bees. Way too many. Just an unacceptable amount. The commuters on I-5 in Lynnwood, Washington would probably agree, as they got first hand experience with that figure when a semi truck rolled over this morning, spilling its cargo everywhere.

From The Seattle Times:

The overturned truck held 458 hives with as many as 14 million bees, Leary said. The honeybees, headed from Sunnyside, Yakima County, for pollination at a blueberry farm in Lynden, Whatcom County, were worth $92,000, he said.

$92,000 worth of bees might sound like a lot to you, but it works out to $0.007 per bee. Not even a penny! I mean, these are bulk prices, sure, but still. Bees are almost literally worthless by this calculation. Although that’s probably not too much comfort for the people nearby who were terrorized by 14 MILLION OVERHEATED STING-CRAZY BEES.

As temperatures warmed and the bees became more agitated, firefighters sprayed a mixture of foam and water on the hives to slow down or kill some of the bees. Television reporters swatted at swarms of the insects surrounding their cameras and clumps of bee carcasses littered the roadway.

“Everybody’s been stung,” said Sgt. Ben Lewis of the State Patrol.

Yup, confirmed. Fourteen million bees is definitely too many bees.

(Via The Seattle Times)

×