Rick Bowmer/AP
- Over a million bees were kept in a UPS truck for weeks due to problems with the packaging.
- CBS Boston reported that most of the bees in the shipment died.
- The bees were supposed to be shipped from Pennsylvania to New England, the report said.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
The majority of about a million bees that were being shipped to New England died after they were kept for weeks inside a UPS truck in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, according to CBS Boston.
According to the report, the plan was for the bees to be shipped from a distributor in Pennsylvania, Mann Lake Ltd, to beekeepers in New England. However, issues with the packaging held up the process.
"We have been working with the customer over the last couple of weeks, making multiple attempts with local beekeepers to safely contain and move the bees," UPS told CBS Boston.
A beekeeper was called in this week, and a majority of the insects were dead. A beekeeper told the outlet that bees placed in shipment boxes only have enough food for a few days.
"Almost all of them could have been saved if they called someone right away," Anita Deeley, former Massachusetts Department of Agriculture inspector, told CBS Boston.
According to the report, Mann Lake Ltd. is looking into the incident.
As Insider previously reported, the bee population is facing serious trouble as their colonies collapse.
"Bees are really gentle, they normally don't want to sting you," Deeley told the news station. "They are really, really important pollinators. They pollinate about one-third of food that we eat. Without bees, we wouldn't have most of the fruits and vegetables that you see on your table. They are very important for our eco-system."