Stolen Beehives Devastate French Beekeepers

In France, beekeepers across the country are waking up to find their hives stolen. There's been an increase in thefts across the country, with beekeepers blaming a possible international network of beekeeper thieves.

Last year, 400 hives were stolen. But already in 2021, that number is more than 600, says Frank Alétru, president of the French national beekeeping union.

"It's a very big problem for us in France," Alétru tells Scott Simon on Weekend Edition. He says the thefts are happening in several countries in Western Europe.

"Beehive theft is a phenomenon that has always existed, but is now taking on a new dimension," he says. In the past, the thieves would take the honey supers — the part where honey is collected — just before harvest, or one or two hives. "But now, we are witnessing apiaries being emptied" with more than a dozen "hives disappearing all at once."

Some beekeepers have found far more stolen. A beekeeper in Thodure, in southeast France, had 25 hives stolen at once in April, The Times of London reported. In the Occitanie region of southern France, a professional beekeeper lost 70 hives at once, according to Le Parisien, out of a total of 157 hives stolen from four people in a week in March.