SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon's "first bees" have abandoned their home at the governor's mansion in Salem.
The Willamette Valley Beekeepers Association installed a hive this spring in the backyard of Mahonia Hall after proposing the idea to Gov. John Kitzhaber.
But the Statesman Journal newspaper reports (http://is.gd/3FXBdy ) that the honeybees — more than 60,000 of them as of two weeks ago — were gone on Friday.
Richard Farrier is the president of the Beekeepers Association. He suspects the bees escaped a parasite that feeds on the blood of bees and is known for spreading a virus that causes wing and abdominal deformities.
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Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com
