Aerial spraying of the pesticide naled in a SC county, done in an attempt to prevent Zika-infected mosquitoes from gaining a foothold in the state, resulted instead in the massacre of millions of honeybees.
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In response to the ensuing outcry from local farmers after last Sunday’s bout of aerial spraying in Dorchester County, the local administrator’s office announced that the state health department had reported four travel-related cases of Zika virus in the Summerville area of Dorchester County on Friday 26 August.
Concerned about the spread of the Zika virus across the South, local officials on Sunday targeted a 38-square km area of the county, which is near Charleston, with naled. To combat the Zika-carrying mosquito, SC has been doing truck and aerial spraying with an insecticide called Trumpet, which contains the pesticide naled.
Last weekend, Stanley lost more than 3 million bees – all 46 of her hives and her entire livelihood – when Summerville officials made a decision to aerially spray a small area of the town for Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Another beekeeper, Juanita Stanley, told the Post & Courier, “My bee yard looks like it’s been nuked”.
The Washington Post reports that there were mass-deaths of bees in SC as authorities in a county sprayed a powerful insecticide in a bid to eradicate Zika-carrying mosquitoes. But in this case – for the first time in South Carolina’s history – the Naled was sprayed from a plane, likely because officials considered the threat of Zika entering the country too great to be dealt with by normal means. “It’s about saving the bees”, she said.
As the bee population is diminished, food becomes less available and prices of fruits and vegetables increase. “To protect the bees, you don’t want to spray after the sun has been up more two hours, so we scheduled it early”.
The pictures are heartbreaking: Millions of honeybees lie dead after being sprayed with an insecticide targeting Zika-carrying mosquitoes.
County authorities were quoted as saying that they had provided plenty of warning about the aerial pesticide-spraying, spreading word via a newspaper announcement and a Facebook post. “My entire business is dead, and it’s not like I can just go out shopping and buy some more bees and get right back on track”.
Whatsoever, the death of honeybees shattered the beekeepers of the locality. Naled is an insecticide that has been registered since 1959 for use in the United States. He also lost his hives containing thousands of bees. Moreover, many counties spray for mosquitos at night, because honeybees are primarily active during the day.
The county also sent notice to more than 20 local news stations two days prior to the spraying, followed by a second alert the day before.
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They also recommend beekeepers prevent bees from leaving the hive while spraying is underway.
