By Alyssa Conti

Millions of bees escape from semi rollover near B.C.-American border Friday

May 31, 2025 | 3:09 PM

ALDERGROVE — An area near the U.S.-Canada border is buzzing with activity today (May 30) after a semi-truck carrying 250 million bees rolled over in Whatcom County, Washington, less than 20 kilometres south of Aldergrove.

At around 9 a.m., the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office reported that Weidkamp Road, near Lynden, has been closed due to an incident involving a commercial vehicle. The trailer carrying 70,000 pounds of live honey bee hives had broken off and freed the striped pollinators, stinging everyone and everything in their way.

“Avoid the area due to the potential of bee escape and swarming,” wrote the sheriff’s office. “WCSO deputies, Whatcom County Public Works, and a bee expert are on-scene with the truck-load of pollinating bees.”

Over two dozen beekeepers have shown up to rescue as many hive boxes as possible, and most bees are expected to return home by Saturday.

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No stray honey for the Valley

‘Millions of bees’ may sound like a lot to catch within 48 hours, but Langley Bee Club President Bryn Jones told Fraser Valley Today the incident likely won’t affect the local environment all that much.

“When things settle down at night, they like to go home to their queen or a box of some sort that looks familiar,” said Jones. “So I’m betting that the beekeepers down there will be setting up hives, and then when the bees all settle down at night, they’ll move them out.”

Jones added that stray bees should linger around the roll-over site, though they’ll be unhappy about losing their home.

“Typically, when these crashes happen, the boxes get broken a bit, but most of the bugs survive, so they’ll be able to find queens and move in. They have a particular pheromone perfume that attracts them,” he explained.

The Langley beekeeper is familiar with the process, as Canadian apiarists commonly transport their own resources amongst one another.

“For instance, there are beekeepers from Alberta who have come here to help pollinate blueberry fields in Fraser Valley […] There’s a guy in Maple Ridge who’s taken […] thousands of colonies from here out to Nova Scotia and back.”

Local bees could still use some help, though. At a Township of Langley council meeting in March, Jones shared that beekeepers in the Fraser Valley have been losing up to 30 per cent of their hives in recent years.

“It’s habitat destruction, pesticides, invasive species, disease pests, and sadly, even human indifference,” Jones told Council early this year.

If any American pollinators do find their way north of the border, Jones assured they won’t be stepping over other bees’ knees– they’re the same species after all.