About 5 million honeybees bound for Alaska last weekend got waylaid when Delta Air Lines routed them through Atlanta, where most of the bees died after
Hundreds of pounds of honeybees were set to ship from the Lower 48 to beekeepers across Alaska last weekend, but died in transit when the crates carrying them were left for hours on a hot tarmac in Atlanta. Soldotna beekeeper Sarah McElrea said.
Beekeepers who were waiting for the shipment to arrive said that the loss was “devastating”. Sarah McElrea, who runs Sarah’s Alaska Honey, was informed by the airline the day after the shipment was due to arrive that some bees had escaped from their crates, so the airline had put them outside.
A shipment of honeybees bound from California to Alaska died after an airline re-routed them through Atlanta, then left them to sit on the tarmac during hot.