The devastating fire that damaged several bee houses last week may be the last straw for three of the five beekeepers on the site. Rob Smeenk of the Bijenvereniging Assen confirms this. “Every time you drive there, you’re stressed. Because you don’t know how you’ll find it.”
The site has been a regular target of vandalism for several years. Beehives are knocked over, buildings destroyed, beds dug up and so on. Last week, part of the buildings and beehives went up in flames. Smeenk calls it “vandalism and animal abuse”.
Beekeepers prefer to keep their colonies in their own garden. That is not always possible and then beekeepers have to rely on, for example, a place at a farmer or market gardener, or at the bee association.
The bee association in Assen has several locations, but the location on Pitteloseweg in Assen is under pressure. “Once the misery has set in, it won’t stop,” thinks Rob Smeenk. “It started during corona. We thought it would pass when the youth has something else to do, but it just continues.”
Three out of five beekeepers doubt whether they want to continue at that location. Moving a bee colony is difficult, in addition, the stalls are private property of the beekeepers themselves. Stopping is then obvious. “In the best case scenario, that destruction is now over. But then it will still take a while before you have the courage to continue.”