I had a bee infestation in an owl box. I did not want to kill the bees (which would be quite easy and cheap) because I know bees have an essential role in pollination of plants. After searching online I came across Happy Bee Removals operated by Hennie and his son Bennie.
These guys widely advertise their Bee and WASP removal service, claiming they don't kill the bees but spray them with sleeping gas and then relocate them to their honey farm. This sounded like a really efficient and bee friendly method so I organised with them to remove and relocate the bees in the owl box. However when they started with the removal and chucking handfuls of honey cake and 'sleeping bees' in a black plastic refuse bag I started to become suspicious. They gave me some of the honey cake to eat as well and told me the sleeping gas is safe for human consumption. After some research and phoning the South African Bee Organisation (SABIO) I learned there is no such thing as 'bee sleeping gas'. Clearly these bees where killed - probably using Organophosphate which is very dangerous for human consumption! I have confronted Bennie but he refuse to acknowledge that the bees were actually killed.
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