Hello Dee & All,
I was not going to comment on the wreck but I have had people email wanting
me to. So will give comments.

Dee said:
What annoyed me was that the drivers of the truck, that
should have been beekeepers were not allowed to grap the
boxes of bees they could and keep on driving, but maybe
they couldn't (not enough info given.)

Beekeepers drive less than 50% of the trucks moving into Almonds.

 Of the  non beekeeper drivers a small percentage are the professional bee
hive haulers. I believe these guys are worth the higher fees and worth
waiting for. I have loaded semis for both kinds of bee haulers. The
professional and "the never hauled bees before driver".

The independent drivers and company booked flatbed haulers carry load
insurance. The load goes over and the beekeeper can accept the damaged load
plus compensation or simply take the insurance payoff.

To use a recent example. The last years load which over turned near Kansas
City was insured and the Texas beekeeper took the payoff.
When this happens the insurance company sends an adjuster to take control of
the situation.  In the case of the KC spill the adjuster looked as scared as
a deer in headlights. He was smart enough to take the advice of Missouri
beekeepers on the scene and the cleanup went extremely smooth (over a four
day period). Two large Missouri beekeepers made an offer on the load and
took charge of the cleanup

Most likely  secenario  for Vegas:
Possibly in Vegas the load was insured, the owner beekeeper did not want the
mess so elected to take the insurance, no beekeeper stepped up to buy the
mess (load of bees) and so the insurance company decided to kill and remove
the mess to a landfill.

Another possible scenario:
The ramp could not be routed easily around (which was not  the case in
Missouri) so kill and remove mess was decided on. In many cities the mayor
is the highest ranking person in city hall. if he/she orders a course of
action the police department has to follow. Beekeepers and insurance
adjusters many times have little say in the matter. After four days of 24
hour a day cleanup the city ordered the remaining hives at the Missouri site
killed by soapy water by the fire department and the hives dumped in a
dumpster. The beekeepers protested but to no avail.

Next we have got the migratory beekeeper with his own semi. Many migratory
beekeepers move their own bees on their own semis into California. These
guys carry liability insurance but not all carry insurance on the hives (is
available through Roger Starks and many do carry the insurance)as the
insurance is expensive. Why is the insurance rather expensive? Because the
beekeeper can demand payment and the mess belongs to the insurance company!

A beekeeper  with all his hives on a semi which turns over *uninsured* could
be wiped out (like Dee said) if the powers that be decide to kill and dump
his hives in a dumpster like Vegas. Has happened more than once!
Many times the beekeeper/beekeepers have little say in the matter.
Smart beekeepers  ALWAYS want to wait for a wrecker company with huge air
bags to right the wreck in my opinion. A recent Mendes brothers turned on
side load of bees on the Pennsilvania turnpike ( I believe from memory) was
waiting for a wrecker with air bags. The load  was destroyed by a couple
wrecker drivers using cables against boxes which simply riped apart making
the mess worse and upseting the bees needlessly!. The Mendes brothers had a
wrecker enroute with the bags but a policeman on the scene let a couple
*show up scene to make a buck* wrecker drivers destroy the load. We have got
a law against those type wrecker drivers in K.C.!

Cleaning up a wreck of 480 behives all smashed up takes TIME , MAN POWER AND
EQUIPMENT.

Dee asks:
This to me is the height of disrespect...........would they
do this to other livestock?

I don't believe so but 480 hives in a wreck is a scary site to the novice!!
With air bags a simply overturned semi can be routed  simply and quickly in
most instances. Straps many times hold the load in place. An overturned semi
can not be righted by running cables around wooden hives and winching!

A beekeeper which is familiar with the loading of semi's needs to advise.
Hope I have helped BEE-L readers to understand the ins and outs of truck
wrecks.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri

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