Community Chat

[KingstonsMom]

From : CBS Boston

• Over a million bees were kept in a UPS truck for weeks due to problems with the packaging.
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• CBS Boston reported that most of the bees in the shipment died.
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• The bees were supposed to be shipped from Pennsylvania to New England, the report said.

The majority of about a million bees that were being shipped to New England died after they were kept for weeks inside a UPS truck in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, according to CBS Boston.

According to the report, the plan was for the bees to be shipped from a distributor in Pennsylvania, Mann Lake Ltd, to beekeepers in New England. However, issues with the packaging held up the process.

"We have been working with the customer over the last couple of weeks, making multiple attempts with local beekeepers to safely contain and move the bees," UPS told CBS Boston.

A beekeeper was called in this week, and a majority of the insects were dead. A beekeeper told the outlet that bees placed in shipment boxes only have enough food for a few days.

"Almost all of them could have been saved if they called someone right away," Anita Deeley, former Massachusetts Department of Agriculture inspector, told CBS Boston.

According to the report, Mann Lake Ltd. is looking into the incident.

As Insider previously reported, the bee population is facing serious trouble as their colonies collapse.

"Bees are really gentle, they normally don't want to sting you," Deeley told the news station. "They are really, really important pollinators. They pollinate about one-third of food that we eat. Without bees, we wouldn't have most of the fruits and vegetables that you see on your table. They are very important for our eco-system."

[just bee]

I really didn't need to see this today.

[rms1954]

How sad. What a loss

[elated]

That is really sad. I don't understand why anyone would think it was ok to keep bees for weeks in the back of a UPS truck. I keep thinking there must be more to this story. Bees are very important to our existence. 

[spiderw]

There sin't any valid excuse for this to have happened.  Bees are already in trouble and since they are an important part of our eco- system I would think they would have been protected and taken care of.  

The people in charge should be held accountable and penalized.  It is just plain ignorance and not caring about the importance of the bees.  There is a purpose for everything nature gives us on this earth and we must respect and protect all of it.  

[Mersha]

Horrible...makes me sick.

[fancy pantsy]

after reading this, it feels like i've been punched in the gut.  

[Boomernichols]

@KingstonsMom What a shame, no words..................

[Sooner]

I doubt UPS has enough bee shipments to have special precautions for it.  And bees are shipped.

It is an accident, it is sad, but people can't always be held responsible for dealing with things outside their expectations and experience. 

Could you?  

[KingstonsMom]

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@Sooner wrote:

I doubt UPS has enough bee shipments to have special precautions for it.  And bees are shipped.

It is an accident, it is sad, but people can't always be held responsible for dealing with things outside their expectations and experience. 

Could you?  

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@Sooner 

A company shouldn't take on a job "dealing with things outside their expectations and experience".

Shippers know what they're tramsporting.

We're not talking about a misdelivered package or spoiled food delivery, it's our planet's eco-system.