Central Texas honey bee rescue asks for support after trailer, equipment destroyed in fire

The American Honey Bee Protection Agency -an Austin-based honeybee rescue organization- is asking for help after a fire destroyed essential equipment and hives just ahead of bee season.

Walter Schumacher, known as the "Bee Czar," has spent years helping Central Texans safely relocate bee colonies. Now, he and his nonprofit are facing their own crisis after a fire burned one of their trailers to the ground. It was believed to have been caused by a fallen power line.

The trailer served as the nonprofit's newly constructed queen-rearing facility, and it housed about 400 soon-to-be queen bees. Schumacher said the goal was to provide a source of new queens to replace aging or deceased queens, ensuring the colony's survival.

"I mean, so much loss and it was the first time we were going to have queens and there were a whole bunch of things that were behind the, the beauty of what was growing in this trailer. And then, to see it wiped out,” he said. "Now I have to be much more meticulous in the bee removal and make sure I have her and put her in a little box, so that she's not killed or lost or any of those things."

Beyond the loss of the queen-rearing facility, the fire also wiped out several previously rescued bee colonies on the property. At least 50 hives had to be removed following the disaster.

“The sad thing, the thing that makes you sick in your stomach is that this was full of life,” Schumacher said. “On that table was a beehive. It didn't make it."

This fire is just the latest challenge for the organization, which has already dealt with floods, a car fire and mechanical breakdowns in two of its bee-mobiles this year.

With damages exceeding $100,000, Schumacher is turning to the Austin community for support.

"Instead of just working on, on my thing, I now have to find somebody to come and haul this off or a metal person that would buy it. And then I have to rebuild it,” said Schumacher.

The American Honey Bee Protection Agency has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses. Schumacher said it could take more than a year to rebuild what was lost.

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