Overview

• On Friday, a tractor-trailer carrying over 70,000 pounds of honey bee hives overturned on Weidkamp Road near Lynden, Washington after the driver misjudged a tight turn.
• Authorities initially estimated 250 million bees escaped before confirming roughly 14 million were released into the environment.
• More than two dozen beekeepers collaborated with deputies to repair about 300 damaged hives, guiding the insects back to their queens.
• By Monday morning most of the bees had returned to their hives and Whatcom County reopened the road after a 24-hour closure.
• The spill has renewed calls from the Washington State Beekeepers Association for a formal emergency bee response protocol in response to widespread colony declines.