Montrealer Mike Cohen has a sweet ride.
At least, he did for a little while on Monday, when a colony of bees swarmed the trunk of his parked car in downtown Montreal.
Cohen discovered the un-bee-lievable inconvenience when he returned to his vehicle after an hour-long meeting. He found his car partially covered in bees, and surrounded by people taking pictures and video of the bizarre sight.
“To my horror, I saw the biggest swarm of bees I ever laid eyes on in my life,” he said.
Cohen said he called 911, but police and firefighters had no answer for how to handle the bees. Instead, they called experts at the University of Montreal to deal with the problem.
Three beekeepers, including Alexandre Beaudoin, came in to remove the bees. Beaudoin identified the queen and put her in a bee box. The hive then followed its matriarch, and Beaudoin was able to safely relocate the swarm to a better location.
Beaudoin, a biodiversity consultant at the University of Montreal, said the bees were likely following a young queen out to establish a new colony. “It was a temporary spot,” Beaudoin told CTV News. “It’s normal. The clash is that it’s in the city, so we’re not used to seeing natural things happen here.”
Beaudoin added that bees sometimes migrate because they run out of food, which is a bigger problem for colonies in the city, especially with the growing popularity of urban beekeeping.
“If everyone has a beehive at their house and there’s too many, they can’t find their food and they change their behaviour,” Beaudoin said. “They become aggressive.”
Would-be apiarists should fully educate themselves before diving into the bee business, Beaudoin said.
But according to Beaudoin, there’s an easy way to keep your city bees happy – and at home.
Plant more flowers, and they won’t buzz off.
With files from CTV Montreal
