California thieves take 190K bees from Montana beekeeper

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A Montana beekeeper says thieves got away with 488 bee hives he had taken to California to pollinate almond trees.

Lloyd Cunniff tells the Great Falls Tribune it appeared the thieves used semitrailers to steal about 190,000 bees sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning in Yuba City, California. He said he was storing the bees on a fellow beekeeper’s property before moving them to Fresno, where he had a contract to pollinate almond trees.

Cunniff says the theft will cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in income. The hives were insured.

Cunniff said he reported the theft to the Sutter County sheriff’s department and learned other beekeepers have reported thefts, as well. He says beekeepers also are searching for the missing hives.