HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0786.046 2022-2024From:
Anthony Booker
Sent:
Sunday, September 1, 2024 7:56 PM
To:
Council Testimony
Subject:
BEE BILL 144
Aloha, my name is Anthony Booker. I'm a beekeeper on the Big Island. I agree with the bill for the most
part, but I do not agree with reporting nuisance bees. Bees fly up to 5 miles to pollinate. I can see where
someone gets stung and the closest apiary beekeeper gets blamed. Then it becomes a thing. I have
been asked by a neighbor if they were my bees that had swarmed and created a nest under his house. I
had to go and inspect my bees and then capture the Swarm in his house. The bees were not my own. One
thing I do know for sure as a beekeeper, is that bees have an important job on our planet. If the bees die,
the trees die, if the trees die we die. Not only will the trees die but all of the plants and everything that we
eat will also die. We need bees to survive. They are the single most important organism on this planet.
Everyone should have the right to become a beekeeper. The law that really needs to be changed is that in
certain places like Hilo beekeepers are not allowed. I understand limiting the amount of hives on the
small property, but 1 believe everyone should have the right to keep bees on their property within a
reasonable amount of space.
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Ref. Date i lW� 4 20,24