This week, we're reprinting our five most popular stories of 2010, with scores based on a combination of views, comments, likes, and tweets. Today we bring you our fourth biggest story of the year.
Flickr/hayesvalleyfarm
OK, this one's horrible.
The Hayes Valley Farm reports on its blog today that some time between Monday and Tuesday afternoons, somebody intentionally sprayed pesticide on three colonies of bees at the farm, entirely wiping out two of them and killing 60%-70% of the third.
The HVF describes the carnage in vivid detail:
Awful Person Kills Thousands of Bees at Hayes Valley Farm
Original post date: July 21, 2010
Flickr/hayesvalleyfarm
The thousands of bees that died immediately or rushed to the entrance for fresh air fell onto the screened bottom board and clogged up the entrance to the hive, making escape impossible for any of the other bees and turning each hive into a gas chamber.Each hive housed an estimated 60,000-100,000 bees, with a value of about $1000 per hive, but the blog notes that "beyond the economic loss... is the emotional loss and the loss of educational opportunity the hives were to provide at HVF." A police report has been filed.
