About 200,000 bees died near Prunedale after their hives were toppled and sprayed with diesel fuel, KSBW8 reported.
The incident occurred between 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.
The honeybees are owned by a San Joaquin Valley man, according to the station. In the winter months, he keeps the colonies on the property of Mike Hickenbottom, on Echo Valley Road north of the Monterey County town of Prunedale.
When the weather is warmer, the bees would have been trucked back to the valley to pollinate thousands of acres of almonds.
Hickenbottom says he believes his neighbors were behind the incident, partly because they had complained to him three times about the bees.
Hickenbottom said his neighbors claimed their children were too scared to go outside. He says the bees are not aggressive.
A report was filed with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. No arrests have been made.
Vandalism of the beehives is another blow to a bee industry that is losing about 30 percent of its colonies each year to natural causes. Bee colonies throughout the world have been affected by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which entire beehives die at once.
The demand for pollinating bees has also led to thefts. In May, a 51-year-old man from Sacramento was arrested after $35,000 worth of hives were taken from an orchard in Madera County.
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