The Wire

It reads like the plot of a hard-boiled detective novel: stolen gear and covered tracks. But in fact, it’s the story of bee keeping. In Tasmania last week 17 bee hives were stolen. But the latest sting is not the first. According to bee keeprs, the industry has always been plagued by theft, due to the value of an individual hive reaching a few hundred dollars or more. Lindsay Burke has been a beekeeper since he was a young boy and he’s had hives stolen twice in the last three years. In the first incident he had 36 hives stolen, which cost him around $10,000. Mr Burke spoke to The Wire’s Sophie Gyles about his sticky misfortune.