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By Sophia Hall - May 20, 2021
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — On World Bee Day, Suffolk County began taking steps to help protect the honeybee population from exterminators.
The United Nations notes that World Bee Day “aims to raise awareness on the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.”
Adrienne Esposito, of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, notes that the honeybee population on Long Island has declined by 40% over the last few years, and that can mean catastrophic news for humans.
“They are beneficial insect. A lot of people don't realize that 35% of all of our food crops are reliant upon honeybees and the pollination process,” she explained. “Honeybees are considered, actually by National Geographic magazine, the most important species on the planet.”
Last year, WCBS 880 reported on a man who was living in a Garden City that was infested with bees for several decades. And last week, we met a Williston Park homeowner who said her backyard was overrun by the pollinators.
While in both of those instances, professional beekeepers were called in to humanely remove the honeybees, Esposito says if someone were to call an exterminator, those bees would have been killed.
To prevent that from happening, Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski has proposed legislation would require the exterminator call a professional beekeeper for honeybee infestations, and the bees would be able to be removed to a safe new home.