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Stolen beehives create buzz in South Okanagan village

Walter Makepeace was shocked to see two beehives had gone missing from his property
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Walter Makepeace was shocked to find two of his beehives were missing from his Keremeos acreage Feb. 20, 2020. (Contributed)

An apparent theft of two beehives has the Village of Keremeos buzzing.

Walter Makepeace, of Makepeace Organic Farms and Hugging Tree Winery, stepped outside to check in on his beehives over the weekend (Feb. 20) and was shocked to see that two of his hives were missing.

Makepeace said the case was especially puzzling considering the alleged thief would likely require beekeeping experience to execute the heist.

“I would think they’d be experienced, I wouldn’t want to try to grab a hive when I don’t know anything about them,” Makepeace said.

“The hives were located in front of our windows so I can only presume it happened at night… they’re not light either it would almost be a two-person job to carry them off.”

The thief or thieves would also likely have had to walk from the road a few hundred feet away from the hives on the property at the corner of Upper Bench and Becks Road as there were no vehicle tracks leading to beehives, Makepeace said.

The hives are estimated to be worth approximately $400 each.

After the hives went missing, Makepeace’s daughter-in-law Tara took to social media to see if anyone had any information.

Makepeace has reported the alleged heist to the police but said there are no leads so far.

“I don’t know if I would expect them to find them, it’s a strange theft,” he said. “We put it on Facebook and had a lot of people showing sympathy for our loss.”

Makepeace asks that anyone who has any information regarding the stolen hives contacts him or his family.

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jesse.day@pentictonwesternnews.com

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