Zika Spray Kills Millions of Bees in South Carolina
And then there is this threat. Millions of bees killed in South Carolina when the county sprayed at the wrong time of day.
It was posted here 5 days ago in Post 27:
http://www.irishenvy.com/forums/leprechaun-lounge/285631-zika-virus.html#post1780809
The problem wasn't just the time of the day, or the pesticide Trumpet which is highly toxic to fish and aquatic life. What was worse was the airborne spraying and the lack of warning to the beekeepers.
The beekeepers claim they get notified when county sprays by truck and the beekeeper take steps to protect the bees. One means is shrouding the hives in mesh, like cheesecolth, and wetting it down. That keep the bees in the wet mesh prevents or diminishes the impact on the bees kept in the hive.
In this situation the county contracted with an private sprayer no notice was given.
The lady in the article said she not only lost the bees but the honey was contaminated as well as the hive boxes.
My neighbor is a small time beekeeper. I called her about the story and she had heard the story and was out of state for the Labor Day weekend. I called our County Environemental Department and asked is we were spraying for Zika. She said no as so far all cases in the state were related to out of country travel.
She asked if I wanted my street sprayed as the county only does local sprayijng. I mentioned the South Carolina incident. She was aware of it but noted our county never uses planes to spray only trucks. I noted that my neighbors hives are about 30 feet from the property line and it would seem detrimental to the bees.
I asked if there was any contact or warning to beekeepers prior to spraying. She said, No, there no list and we spray on any street where a resident calls and requests spraying. OUr county tries to spray during the hours when kids are in school.
See added that she has seen a couple of signs in the front of a couple of properties saying, "Please don't spray. Agricultural Bee Keeper. Active Hives here!" She believes the county personnel turn off the spray when passing ... the signs ... if they see them.
I asked what pesticides were used she told me and I googled them. Both are highly toxic to be both bees and aquatic like. "The pesticides were not purchased with Zika in mind just standard treatment for mosquito control.
Looking at the U.S map of the range of the aedes aegypti mosquito there are a lot of growers that are going to be without pollinators.
https://www.google.com/search?q=aed...=_jDQV67JOZKsmwHHuIXABg#imgrc=K4WiRtlDehcrlM:
