500,000 Bees Perish in Dutch Fire Incident.

A Dutch beekeeper has expressed shock after his ten colonies were set ablaze in a public garden in the central city of Almere, resulting in the death of an estimated half a million bees.

The beekeeper mentioned that each hive housed a colony of forty to sixty thousand bees, and the idea that anyone could kill them was horrific.

"It really hurts that my 10 hives have perished," he told regional media.

Police in Almere, which sits to the east of Amsterdam, have requested witnesses after the arson attack on Tuesday night in the city's scenic Beatrixpark. They posted images of the blaze on online platforms.

The Netherlands authorities says that more than half of the nation's 360 species of bee are at threat of dying out, as the number of bees decreases around the world.

Mr Stringer explained that authorities had informed him an accelerant had been used to ignite the colonies, which were sitting on wooden platforms in a wooded part of the garden.

Almost none of the insects survived and he noted that he had doubt the perpetrator would be apprehended.

Another apiarist Heleen Nieman told national radio that she had three bee colonies and planned to give him one of them.

For the beekeeper, who cared for the colonies for about nine years, the fire means starting a fresh hive in the area from the beginning.

But he affirms he will not give up.

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