Riot police battle beekeepers | Dangerous Beekeeping Weblog

These Chilean beekeepers selected the incorrect place to set 60 colonies of bees. Or perhaps the appropriate place, as their plight drew nationwide consideration. 4 beekeepers had been arrested, seven riot police had been hospitalized because of bee stings, and not less than that many honey bees died throughout the protest.

Chilean beekeepers have suffered from a chronic drought (which began in 2010). Crop failures, rising enter prices, and a fractured market have left lots of them determined. I’ve been to Chile just a few instances to go to beekeepers there. They’re among the many greatest on the earth. They had been additionally nice and kindly people, so it appeared to me that they’d be hard-pressed to impress this type of civil unrest in entrance of the presidential palace in Santiago.

This demonstration of beekeepers and about a million honey bees attracted the eye of native (and world) media, and significantly highlighted Chile’s ongoing mega-drought. Chile (particularly within the north) is likely one of the driest locations on Earth. Now it’s much more arid, largely because of a south Pacific “blob” of scorching ocean water. Based on the American Meteorological Society (see Journal of Local weather, 2021), the bizarre patch of scorching water is not less than partly brought on by man-made local weather change. There’s not rather a lot that the president of Chile can do about that (although Santiago not too long ago transformed practically all buses to electrical, with the remaining natural-gas powered). Nevertheless, the protesting beekeepers are hoping that the federal government will assist honey costs and supply subsidies to maintain beekeepers in enterprise.

In the meantime, the Carabiniers (Chile’s nationwide police) evicted the bees. Though some members of the general public had been disturbed by the sudden presence of honey bees on the sidewalks, most locals had been taking the standard January month off exterior town, so the potential hazard was restricted. Typically, Chileans respect their beekeepers so it’s uncertain that the protesters shall be punished.

(Images from Reuters’ Commodities information part.)

About Ron Miksha

Ron Miksha is a bee ecologist working on the College of Calgary. He’s additionally a geophysicist and does a little bit of science writing and running a blog. Ron has labored as a radio broadcaster, a beekeeper, and Earth scientist. (Ask him about seismic waves.) He is based mostly in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Ron has written two books, dozens of journal and journal articles, and enhances his first e-book, Dangerous Beekeeping, with the weblog at badbeekeepingblog.com. Ron wrote his most up-to-date e-book, The Mountain Thriller, for everybody who has checked out a mountain and questioned what miracles of nature set it upon the panorama. For extra about Ron, together with some cool photos taken when he was a young person, please examine Ron’s website: miksha.com.