East Vancouver community garden stung by bee thief

Members of the community garden at Pandora Park in East Vancouver were shocked to discover their brand new bee hive was stolen a little more than a week ago.

"They still can't believe it. It's upsetting," said volunteer beekeeper McGuire Kaminsky on Monday. "It's quite rare to have a hive disappear in the city."

The community garden has had bees for the past seven years, and had just brought in a new nucleus colony, or "nuc" — a queen and workers to set up a hive — but it disappeared within 24 hours.

Kaminsky said there wasn't much evidence to explain what had happened, save for a chair left against the low fence and a lack of mess around the crime scene.

"A clean grab, we called it ... A vandal would have done something different, so it just seems like someone who may have had experience with bees. I'm not saying it's another beekeeper, it's just someone who has some bee savvy," she said.

Kaminsky said suspicion abounds in the tight community of gardeners, and the thief may have even been waiting for the new bees to arrive.

They made off with the hive under the cover of darkness, when most of the bees would have been safely tucked inside.

"There was no honey; there was just bees. ... There's a lot of ideas that have been shared throughout the community garden," Kaminsky said.

Kaminsky said honey from last year's hive brought in about $400 that the community put back into the garden.

Now, the group is raising funds to cover the loss. They've already sourced a new nuc, and the bees are settling in at the park. Kaminsky said more money is needed to replace the stolen equipment and pay for security upgrades to the bee enclosure to keep humans out.

Kaminsky said she reported the theft to Vancouver police, but doesn't have much hope they'll recover the stolen hive.

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