The article (http://www.naturalnews.com/035920_beekeeper_Illinois_raid.html) says that the comb sample tested positive for "foulbrood". The article does not say which type but if it was AFB (and assuming that the report is true), then no, this was not "government tyranny" but the proper functioning of the government in a public health situation. Under Illinois law, the only allowable abatement for AFB is burning. (BEES AND APIARIES ACT, [510 ILCS 20/1 et seq.], Section 60.50 Diseased or Parasitized Colonies)
The claim by the owner that the dangers of foulbrood are "greatly overblown" is absurd. Allowing AFB in your yard makes you a threat not merely to yourself but to every other beekeeper within flying distance. Reasonable people may disagree over whether burning is or should be the only allowable abatement. But I do not consider it reasonable to demand that your bees be allowed unlimited rights to infect your neighbors or to allege a conspiracy when the inspector does exactly what the law requires (and has required since at least 1982 in Illinois).
Mike Rossander
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