WILSONVILLE, Ore., July 1 (UPI) -- Dozens of people gathered outside a Target store in Washington state to memorialize an estimated 50,000 bumblebees that were killed by pesticide poisoning.
The event happened at the Target in Wilsonville on Sunday, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.
Participants observed a moment of silence for the bees, which died earlier in June after a number of European linden trees were sprayed with the pesticide Safari, and then several people made speeches about declining bee populations worldwide.
"In some parts of the world, bee populations have been so devastated that people have to pollinate crops chemically," said Rozzell Medina, a Portland resident who organized the event. "That's not sustainable. That's not healthy."
Medina said he and his friends organized the event as a way for people to come together and work for change. "I thought this might just be me and 10 of my friends, but it turned into something bigger than that," he said. "I think that says a lot."
