Russia Launches Investigation Into Mysterious Mass Death Of Bees

Local authorities in Russia have decided to launch an official investigation to uncover the cause behind the mysterious mass deaths of bees in different regions. In one district, over 140 bee colonies died due to unknown causes.

According to local reports, the recent mass deaths of the insects occurred in three different districts. In the Belovsky district of the Kemerovo Oblast, residents reported that 145 bee colonies mysteriously died. The total loss was valued at 1 million rubles or around $14,000.

Other districts such as Guryevsky in Kaliningrad Oblast and Krapivinsky in Kemerovo also had similar mass bee deaths.

Currently, the exact cause of the bees’ deaths is still unknown. However, authorities plan to analyze the affected colonies to see if agricultural chemicals caused the mass die-off. This assumption is based on the theory of local beekeepers in the regions.

“All the circumstances of the incident are being clarified: the date and time of the chemical treatment of the fields, the registration of beekeepers, the volume of deaths of bees,” a spokesperson for the Kuzbass Ministry of Agriculture explained in a statement, according to Newsweek.

One of the chemicals that local authorities are looking into has been identified as an insecticide known as fipronil. Although it is legal in Russia, this chemical is currently banned for agricultural use in the European Union.

According to a local beekeeper, it is possible that many field owners started using fipronil because it is cheaper than other insecticides. Unfortunately, it might have caused the deaths of hundreds of bee colonies.

“The pesticides banned in Europe have all been dumped here in Russia and farmers use them in their fields because it is cheap,” Viktor Morozov of Bobrovka in the Tula region stated. “As a result, bees are dying and people are being poisoned. Of course, somebody has to take responsibility for this. But I don't know if someone will.”

The recent die-off is the latest blow to Russia’s bee population. Last year, an agricultural agency reported that about 300,000 colonies across the country died. It was believed that the misuse of chemicals such as pesticides might have caused the mass bee deaths.