A car full of bees is creating a lot of buzz on the Internet. A driver in Missoula, Montana was pulled over after several 911 calls reported him swerving on the road in a car that had thousands of bees.
A car full of bees led to a citation. On May 22, at around noon, the Montana Highway Patrol got a call, which sounded like a sweet hoax.
The worried and confused motorist on the line claimed that he saw another red car weaving all over the road that seemed to be filled with bees. The car full of bees was spotted near Missoula. Trooper Lynwood Bateman, who pulled the vehicle over, wrote on his Facebook page:
“A complaint of a vehicle driving all over the road.The reporting party stated the inside of the car had bees all over the windows and flying throughout the car.”
The Highway Patrol eventually searched the car and found five hives and thousands of bees buzzing around inside. The driver, who is an apiarist (a beekeeper), told troopers they were Russian honey bees, a harmless species of honeybee.
Bee Culture Magazine, The Beekeeping Resource Leader, explained:
The Russian honeybee refers to honey bees (Apis mellifera) that originate in the Primorsky Krai region of Russia. This strain of bee was imported into the United States in 1997 by the USDA’s Honeybee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in response to severe declines in bee populations caused by infestations of parasitic mites,and have been used in breeding programs to improve existing stocks.
According to the experts, at The Russian Honeybee Breeder, the species is very gentle most of the time:
The truth is that Russian honey bees are generally very gentle. But like in any other strain of bee, occasionally one finds a mean one. Also, as with all honey bees they can be a bit hard on you when you work them when the weather is rainy or cool, especially if there is not a nectar flow.
After contacting Montana’s official apiarist and learning that the driver did not break any laws and did not need any permits to transport the bees through the state, Trooper Lynwood Bateman issued a citation for careless driving.
