Iowa Minors Arrested for Killing a Half Million Bees

After vandalism last month left one Sioux City honey business in shambles, two young males have been arrested.

According to Globe Gazette, the juveniles are 12 and 13 years old and are "accused of destroying all of Wild Hill Honey's hives"  resulting in 500,000+ bees dead and the company losing an estimated $60,000. Since the suspects are so young, their court records are kept confidential, but they are being charged with "first-degree criminal mischief, agricultural animal facilities offenses and third-degree burglary". That's THREE felonies.

It's such a senseless act that is really disappointing to see. Not only did this end bad for the bees, but it devastated the company as well considering their insurance did not cover the damage. Fortunately, the public stepped in to raise thousands of dollars for owners Justin and Tori Englehardt, as stated in the report.

This isn't the only bee vandalism we've seen either as KCCI reports that "100 beehives were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of honey bees were sprayed with gasoline over the weekend in California". Around 200,000 bees were killed as a result. It's infuriating that there are people out there that would do something as cruel as this. Hopefully justice will be served in both of these cases.

The owners of the Iowa honey business are planning to rebuild things and we wish them all the success.