250 million bees on the loose in Washington state after truck rolls over
Authorities reported that a commercial lorry carrying 70,000 pounds of pollinator beehives overturned in the town of Lynden, five miles south of the border with Canada, allowing 250 million bees to make their escape.
'250 million bees are now loose,' the Whatcom county sheriff's department posted on social media.
'AVOID THE AREA due to the potential of bee escape and swarming.'
More than two dozen beekeepers assisted emergency responders – some of whom were stung – with recapturing the bees, a spokesman for the sheriff's department told local media.
The swarm of bees was so dense, it was 'like a cloud', Derek Condit, one of the beekeepers, told local media.
'It was pretty chaotic.'
Some of the beekeepers were reportedly stung over a dozen times and were using tape to plug holes in their suits.
'I've never had that many bees – angry bees – at one time,' said Russell Deptuch, another local beekeeper, in an interview with local media.
The lorry was on its way to the US state of South Dakota when it rolled over early on Friday morning.
However, it was a botched rescue mission several hours later which ultimately caused the mass flight as a tow truck attempted to pull the vehicle out of a ditch, causing the hives to fall off.
'Unfortunately, that didn't happen as smoothly as was hoped, and some of the beehives broke open, which caused all the bees to swarm, which is how we're in the situation we're in now,' said Matt Klein, the deputy director of the division of emergency management for the sheriff's department, in a statement.
The aim of the recovery operation is to save as many bees as possible and allow them to re-hive and find their queen, which the sheriff's department estimated would take one or two days.
Although there is a large number of bees needing to be recaptured, the insects are social and drawn to their hives, meaning they are likely to stay near the truck.
'That's where their queen and the next generation of bees (the 'brood') are located,' Gene Robinson, a professor of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told The New York Times.
Each hive tends to contain between 40,000 and 60,000 bees, Mr Robinson said.
As of Friday afternoon, the beekeepers and emergency responders had restored most of the hives, and the majority of the insects are expected to return by Saturday morning, the sheriff's department said.
Until then, the road has been closed and the public advised to stay at least 200 yards from the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
RFK Jr denies 2028 presidential ambitions after attacks from Trump influencer Laura Loomer
The US health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has fended off an attack by conservative firebrand and Donald Trump influencer Laura Loomer by issuing a statement of fealty to the president which calls it 'a flat-out lie' that he is running for the White House in 2028. Kennedy, 71, had been under pressure since Loomer, 32, expressed concern in a recent Politico interview that Stefanie Spear, a top aide of the HHS secretary, was trying to 'utilize her position to try to lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run'. Loomer's vigilante pressure campaigns within the White House have cost a number of Trump administration figures their jobs, including customs and border protection official Monte Hawkins as well as Food and Drug Administration vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad. Hawkins had been accused by Loomer of having an 'anti-Trump, pro-open borders and pro-[diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI] bias'. And she had labelled Prasad a 'progressive leftist saboteur' before he was later reinstated by the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Loomer told Politico that while she is realistic about neutralizing Kennedy, his deputies were vulnerable. 'I'm not naive enough to think that the president is going to get rid of RFK, but I will say that … there are concerns about some of the staffing decisions over at HHS,' she remarked. A White House official told the outlet that they 'would not be surprised if [Kennedy is] thinking about' running again after his 2024 candidacy prior to aligning himself with Trump. But the official claimed they 'don't think anyone thinks it's a real threat'. Kennedy responded on Friday, saying he would not strive for the presidency in 2028. The Kennedy family scion ran in 2024 for the Democratic party nomination before switching to become an independent candidate – and then cast his lot with Trump. Trump – who in the run-up to his second presidential election victory dismissed Kennedy as a 'radical left liberal' – rewarded him with a cabinet level post as well as his 'make America healthy again' (Maha) mandate. 'The swamp is in full panic mode,' Kennedy Jr said in an X post. 'DC lobby shops are laboring fiercely to drive a wedge between President Trump and me, hoping to thwart our team from dismantling the status quo and advancing [the Maha] agenda.' Kennedy added that the so-called swamp, a Republican term for an entrenched Washington bureaucracy, was 'pushing the flat-out lie that I'm running for president in 2028'. 'Let me be clear: I am not running for president in 2028,' he added. 'My loyalty is to President Trump and the mission we've started.' And he defended Spear. He said 'attacks on my staff, especially Stefanie Spear – a fierce, loyal warrior for Maha who proudly serves in the Trump administration and works every day to advance President Trump's vision for a healthier, stronger America – are proof we're over the target.' Kennedy also offered an overt expression of obeisance to his White House boss and political patron. 'We'll keep moving forward, we'll keep delivering wins, and no smear campaign will stop us,' he wrote. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kennedy was planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what preventive health measures insurers are obliged to cover, reportedly viewing them as too 'woke', a pejorative Republican term for progressive. The crossover of the administration's anti-DEI campaign into healthcare came after an essay in the American Conservative magazine recommended the removal of taskforce members, saying it was embedded 'left-wing ideological orthodoxy'. Among the points it raised was the taskforce's use of term 'pregnant persons' and mention of a 'lasting psychological impact and stigma of enslaved Black women being forced to act as wet nurses'. HHS announced earlier in August it was halting $500m in mRNA vaccine research. And it has also moved to revive a taskforce on childhood vaccine safety, though vaccine injuries are known to be extremely rare. Known as 'Trump's Rasputin' in some circles, Loomer views Kennedy's vaccine skepticism as surging from the left – and not in pure ideological terms. She disputes that he views the issue correctly as a rightwing one, though the two may act in confluence. She has previously labelled Kennedy, in the New York Times, as 'a very problematic person' who 'is running a shadow presidential campaign' from his office. 'There's been some things that have happened,' Loomer told Politico. 'There's been several things that have happened at HHS that are contradictory to the initial promises made.'
The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
My boyfriend won't have sex with me – and says I have to be patient
My boyfriend and I have been together for a few months. The first time we were physically intimate it took him almost an hour to just kiss me because he was shaking so much. He hasn't had physical contact with anyone for four years. He says his last breakup was traumatic. Since then, he has found it hard to maintain an erection, even while watching porn. When we are together, I touch him and myself and, when I'm close to climax, I give him oral sex so we orgasm together. He doesn't kiss me any more and doesn't touch me intimately, apart from my breasts. He says I have to be patient because he hasn't had sex for years. He cannot understand why he is not able to maintain an erection with me. I am starting to feel self-conscious and cheap. I am bigger than his normal type and I feel like this is the problem. I asked him why he's with me; he says it's because he can spend hours talking to me, and he feels comfortable with me. Should I be patient with him or am I setting myself up for heartbreak? You have set yourself up as his caretaker and, while that may be fulfilling for you in many ways, it is probably not erotically inspiring. It has also made you question the unspoken contract between you … which seems to be: you take care of him in every possible way but he does little to reciprocate. If this is correct, I can certainly understand if you are feeling that you deserve more. Would you say you have healthy self-esteem? Some people put up with this kind of contract because, deep down, they do not believe they deserve – or can receive – better. Think carefully about why you have come to be in this position and whether or not it is what you truly want. You can always negotiate for more attention, more kindness, more appreciation or anything else you feel he could give you but withholds. Make him recognise just how special you are, and how lucky he is to have you in his life. Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders. If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to (please don't send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘Didn't have a pillow': the program kitting out foster students starting college
When Ar'reiona Green was accepted to Sacramento State last year, she knew she would need books and school supplies. She didn't expect to need a toolbox. Or hangers. Or that her dorm room wouldn't come with a fan or a lamp. Like many first-year students, Green, who is headed into her sophomore year and plans to become a plastic surgeon, was excited about her future adventures. But coming up through the foster system in California, she didn't know anyone who had gone to college. While she felt ready for her classes, life as a college student was mostly mysterious except for what she'd seen online. That's where Dec My Dorm stepped in. The program works with more than 140 foster youth headed to college, hosting an annual event in July to kit out each student with sheet sets, pillows, a shower caddy and connections to other people in the same situation. Green took part in the summer of 2024, leaving with several duffel bags filled with the things she needed, including many items she didn't know she would need, like dish soap. 'I was expecting bed stuff and towels,' Green said. 'I wasn't expecting them to give me period products and school supplies. They were giving out school merch and stepping stools and toolboxes. They really went above and beyond.' The program started in 2018 when Jill Franklin, a program manager of the Independent Living Program for the department of children and family services in Los Angeles county, met a student who came from the foster system. The young woman described arriving at the University of California at Berkeley with just a trash bag, not knowing that dorm rooms are spartan affairs with a desk, chair, bed with an oddly sized mattress – and that's it. 'She didn't have a pillow or a sheet or a towel, and everybody else was there with their parents and their bags of stuff,' Franklin said. 'At the time, I was editing college essays and I realized, we never ever thought about that first day.' Franklin started with a small Amazon wishlist and a handful of students. It was particularly important that the kids were involved in the process as much as possible, she said, because they were used to living in spaces that were not their own. 'You might have a 17-year-old who's on the football team and says: 'I don't want Minnie Mouse sheets,' but oh well, that's what it is, and they probably aren't going to be there for very long and it's not their bedroom,' said Franklin. 'It was very important that they pick their own bedding, their own towels and their own blankets, so that when they walk in that room, or someone else walks in that room, it says: 'This is who I am.'' In 2022, she met Phyllis Shinbane, who had retired as director of operations from Connecting a Caring Community, a non-profit organization based in Calabasas, California. Like many people, Shinbane had been unaware that foster youth often have nothing they can bring with them to college, but realized this was a need she could help fill. Along with CCC's executive director, Lisa Kodimer, and the Dec My Dorm co-chair Allison Weiss, they raised more than $40,000 in donations and connected with sponsors and volunteers to help 142 students in 2025. 'It's just leveling the playing field,' said Shinbane, who hopes to expand the program to other states. 'It's just putting them in a room where they're equal, where they're not different, where their past doesn't define them, that they are the same as every other college student that came from a supportive, structured, safe home.' Eight per cent to 11% of people in foster care obtain a bachelor's degree, said Sarah Wasch, associate director of the Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice & Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Although most people in foster care can remain in the system until they are at least 21 years old, many foster parents don't have the funds to furnish a dorm room. 'There's a disconnect around who is responsible to oversee that transition,' Wasch said. 'For youth in foster care, it's very unclear if it's the foster family's responsibility, the case manager's, the court's or the legal guardian's.' While some states have programs addressing foster care and higher education, efforts remain piecemeal and there are plenty of gaps to fill, like dorm room needs and storage over summers, she said. Most colleges have support systems specifically aimed at supporting students who come from the foster system, like the Guardian Scholars program in California. Those focus mainly on financial support for tuition and meals, and advising for classes, not for student life. At one point, legislation was introduced to create a federal center that would coordinate state efforts, but it did not pass, Wasch said. Kelisha Williams, a foster student from Kentucky who graduated from Harvard University last spring, said she wished there had been a program like Dec My Dorm when she was going to school. Although Harvard provided a list of dorm room essentials, she watched a lot of YouTube videos to figure out what she would need to fit in and worked to save the money. She emphasized that it's not just about having the essentials, like a shower caddy and a bar of soap. Not having those things could make foster students feel like they don't belong. 'I knew that was going to be a big hurdle, and I did not want anyone to know that I was not like them, or that I didn't deserve to be there,' Williams, 22, said. 'So I kind of just made sure that I worked the summer before to have everything that I needed, even, you know, if it was kind of plush objects like posters and things like that.' Shinbane said that many volunteers were enthusiastic about going with students to set up their dorm rooms, if desired, but there were legal concerns about privacy. The organization offers other resources, like free eye-screening and glasses, and providing students with a resource folder with QR codes linking students to food assistance, clothing programs and campus support. They invite former participants to come meet the new class headed to college, so they can offer advice and support. 'This program is like a living, breathing thing,' Shinbane said. 'It evolves every year, and our goal is to provide them with services and resources to help ensure their success.'
