For almost a year and a half there has been some regular destruction, but on Wednesday the terror against the Bijenvereniging Assen reached a peak. A bee shed on the Pitteloseweg went up in flames, while thousands of bees were in the hives.
“I can’t be a beekeeper in this way,” mourns chairman Henk de Jong Posthumus of the bee association. “It is despondent. There is nothing left of the shed.”
Yesterday morning, De Jong Posthumus had to discover the news through the media. “I saw that there had been a fire and went to have a look. It is a big black mess. The damage is in the thousands of euros.”
It is the latest chapter in a period of destruction that began in January last year. “A stable has been almost completely demolished, only the roof and the back wall are still intact, but also affected by the fire. Sheers on which the cupboards stand have been set on fire, trees have been felled and plants have been dug up. It is terrible.”
The Bijenvereniging Assen has had its home on the Pitteloseweg since 2008. De Jong Posthumus has no idea who is behind the fires and destruction. “We regularly drive past it ourselves, the police have been called in. But no one has seen anything so far. If someone does see something, I hope that they report to us. Because all that animal suffering, terrible.”