UMEA, Sweden, June 21 (UPI) -- Swedish beekeeper Janne Westerlund says about 500,000 of his bees boarded a flight from Sweden to Greenland to contribute to Greenland's honey industry.
The bees left the Umea airport at 1 p.m. Wednesday on a flight that stopped in Stockholm and Kastrup, Denmark, before landing in Narsarsuaq, Greenland, the Swedish news agency TT reported Thursday.
"The bees will be a complement to the agricultural production on the island, which is sheep farming," Westerlund said. "The Greenland honey is very exclusive and sold expensively in small jars."
Westerlund said national bee inspectors and a veterinary surgeon inspected the bees before they were exported. He said the bees should thrive in their new climate.
"The bees do rather well in Greenland, despite the fact that the hives can be covered with several meters of snow at times, not in the least because of Greenland flowers being especially rich in nectar," Westerlund said.
