‘Clumps of Dead Bees:’ Thousands of Bees Die Waiting at Atlanta Airport for Days

Thousands of bees traveling across the country on an airplane ended up stuck on an airport tarmac for days in the Georgia heat.

A member of the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association, a nonprofit organization that “supports an active beekeeping community,” said it received a call from a “desperate Alaska beekeeper” after 200 packages of his bees were stuck on the tarmac at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The bees were supposed to travel from Sacramento, California, to Anchorage, Alaska, but were stuck for four days at the Atlanta airport, the MABA said.

More than 600 pounds of bees were stuck in Atlanta due to flight cancellations, WABE reported. After a long wait, bees started to escape the cargo containers so they were moved outside in the heat, where thousands of them died.

One of MABA’s beekeepers spent hours working with airport employees to try to save the bees. Several local beekeepers even went to the airport to pick up some bees and take them home to hive them, according to the association’s post.

On April 24, the organization said that the majority of bees died while waiting in the heat. MABA also warned that “for those with survivor queens and packages: Keep in mind these bees have undergone a great deal of stress,” adding that they may require closer care and attention than normal.

“It’s devastating to see that many dead,” Julia Mahood, a Georgia Master Beekeeper, told WABE. “Just clumps of dead bees that had no chance because they were left outside with no food.”

The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Delta Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment on April 26.

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