Manitoba honey producer says he's lost more than 200 hives to hungry bears this year

Manitoba bee farmers are trying their best to deter hungry bears from their hives but that's become a challenge during the pandemic, one honey producer says.

An increase in damage from hungry bears destroying hive colonies has become an issue, says Osee Podolsky, of Podolski Honey Farms in Ethelbert (his last name is spelled different from the family farm's).

Podolsky says he's talked with other producers who are also worried.

"Bear presence is becoming out of control," Podolsky said in a Wednesday interview with CBC's Information Radio.

"People have seen a lot more sightings. Farmers are worrying about cattle as well, calves especially."

The apiarist says that's due to the COVID-19 pandemic restricting border access, leaving American hunters unable to travel to the province for bear hunting. 

Podolsky says in a normal year, bears will destroy 15 to 20 hives at his farm. This year, he says the number is well over 200.

"It's a significant amount of destruction. The hive is typically a total loss at that point and there's not very much to salvage. It's a very huge cost to us."

He says factoring in replacement costs, loss of production, equipment, and the lost potential to make a split out of a hive, the loss of a single hive amounts to more than $2,000.

Podolsky, who has around 3,000 bee colonies at his farm, about 290 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg and near Duck Mountain Provincial Park, says he noticed bear damage early on in the spring, when the bees were brought out of wintering.

The farm has gone through a provincial insurance program to help, but only 80 per cent is covered through the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation. 

"Mostly what we've been doing is building fence after fence, abandoning locations, as well as working with [Manitoba] Conservation to trap bears."

The increased costs of construction materials also adds to the problem. Podolsky says it's too expensive to keep building to try to keep the animals out in some locations, and he's abandoned some prime honey production locations altogether. 

Abandoning locations is more cost-effective than trying to maintain what could be lost to bears looking for an energy source, Podolsky says. 

"Winnie the Pooh didn't get it entirely right," he said — while the bears will go after the honey, "they're actually more interested in the brood and the larva, because it's a very, very high protein source," he said.

"That's what they go for, is the brood nest in the beehive. They literally just tear it apart and start munching away."

Fewer hunting permits, more bear damage

Manitoba Conservation says so far in 2021, it has trapped nine bears in response to reports involving what it refers to as "beehive conflict."

That's the same number that was trapped in all of 2020, and already more than the seven trapped due to beehive problems in 2019 and the five trapped in 2018.

Provincial statistics suggest there are indeed far fewer hunters keeping the bear population down this year.

The number of black bear hunting licences issued has dropped sharply during the pandemic, as American hunters haven't been able to drive across the border, according to the province.

No foreign resident bear hunting licences have been issued so far for this season, and none were issued for 2020-21, a provincial spokesperson said in an email to CBC News.

In 2019-20, there were 1,840 foreign resident licences issued, and 1,917 were issued in 2018-19.