Mounties scramble to herd 12 million bees

ST. LEONARD, New Brunswick, June 30 (UPI) -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police needed help Monday to corral 12 million honey bees released when a truck carrying their hives overturned.

RCMP Sgt. Derek Strong said the load shifted on the transport truck carrying the bees back to Ontario, and it turned over, smashing hives and partially opening the trailer's back doors, the Canwest News Service reported.

No one was injured in the accident, and Strong said Agriculture Canada was asked to send bee experts to corral the insects back to hives.

He said rain in the area, outside St. Leonard, was helping, as "bees are not mobile," the report said.

"Right now we have hundred of thousands of bees on the pavement clinging to the back of the truck," he said.

The truck's manifest said there were 330 crates on board with approximately 35,000 bees inside each one.

The Ontario bees had been brought in to pollinate New Brunswick's blueberry crop of more than 9 million pounds each year, Canwest said.