Load of 5 million bees falls off truck in Burlington, Ont., police issue warning

Halton Regional Police have issued a warning on Wednesday morning after a load of five million bees fell off a truck in Burlington, Ont.

Police said the load of bees can be found along Guelph Line just north of Dundas Street.

An image from Halton police shows several beehive boxes spilled onto the side of the road.

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Officers are warning passing vehicles to close their windows and pedestrians to avoid the area until the bees have been cleared.

Global News spoke to the commercial bee keeper who was driving the truck with the beehives, Tristan Jameson, who said they were doing a “hive move” from Milton when he lost control.

“I was driving down the road, something ran across, or a bag, and I swerved,” Jameson said. “Nearly swerved into the ditch, tried to correct, and dumped all the hives.”

Jameson said it happened around 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.

0:38 5 million bees fall off truck, mid-journey in Burlington, Ont

He also said the bees are taking an “orientation flight” to try to figure out where they are as they’ve lost sight of where their home is.

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“Right now there is a ton of bees just all over the place,” Jameson said. “We’re waiting for them to calm down, relax, and come back to the hive and hopefully get as many bees out of here as safely as possible.”

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Meanwhile, police also thanked other bee keepers who went to the area to assist with the cleanup.

In a tweet just after 9 a.m., police said the area should reopen shortly “thanks to the overwhelming response from beekeepers coming to help.”

Police said the majority of bees have been safely collected and the crates will be hauled away. However, police noted some crates will be left behind for bees to naturally return to and their warning will remain in place.

The remainder of the crates will be collected later, police said.