An elderly beekeeper in Citrus County has been left fighting to rebuild his life after twenty active hives vanished from a plot he owns. Eighty four year old Richard Marquette has worked with bees since childhood and relies on honey sales to get by, especially after being placed on medical leave from his job. He discovered the hives had gone in late July when he found a contractor clearing trees around fifty feet inside his property line. When he asked about the bees, he was told the landowner had ordered them moved, yet Richard is the landowner and had authorised no such thing. A deputy later determined that the neighbour, Joseph Denicke, had admitted asking a friend to remove the hives and had even advertised them on Facebook for anyone willing to collect them. More than ninety days later the hives have not been returned, the case has been closed by the sheriff’s department and Richard says he has been left with nothing.
The missing colonies represent up to two million bees along with boxes marked with his state issued registration number. Each hive can produce between twenty and forty quarts of honey and, in Florida, some can deliver three crops in a year, so Richard estimates that thousands of dollars in income have been wiped out. His lawyer, Andy Lyons, has sent a formal demand giving Denicke a short window to make things right. Lyons says the loss has destroyed a full year of earning potential and damaged the wider ecosystem that depends on those bees. Richard still has a few jars of Palmetto honey left, which he proudly describes as close to perfect, and he hopes to recover his bees and equipment in time for next season. If that does not happen, he plans to sue. Authorities have urged anyone who knows the whereabouts of the hives to contact the state’s bee inspection programme.
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