Chinese Couple Keeps 10,000 Bees in Their Apartment, Neighbors Complain of ‘Bee Poop’

A Chinese couple apparently thought it was okay to keep thousands of bees on the balcony of their high-rise apartment in Zhejiang province, China.

For over a year, the couple in the coastal city of Ningbo allegedly ignored their neighbors’ complaints about their collection of beehives that housed thousands of bees.

The unnamed couple reportedly installed the beehives so they can use their stings for medicinal purposes. However, the bee population grew to around 10,000, becoming too invasive to other nearby homes.

Residents complained that bees would often congregate outside their flats and their droppings, a yellow substance that dries into a powder, would stain people’s clothes that were left hung out to dry.

Property management staff have reportedly tried to persuade the couple to remove the insects but failed to convince them.

According to Ningbo Evening News (via SCMP), residents have had enough of the nearby apiary that they decided to seek help from the local authorities.

When the police visited the on March 29, an officer told the female homeowner how their thousands of bees could affect other residents in their apartment complex.

“To other residents in the complex, this is a ticking bomb. What happens if someone gets stung, have you thought about that?” an officer asked the woman.

“Being stung is not a big deal. I’ve been stung a few times and nothing happened,” the woman told the police. She then explained that she and her husband regarded them as pets.

“We have grown attached to these bees, we don’t want to move them,” she was quoted as saying.

The woman promised to remove the bees only after the authorities gave her a warning, telling her that she could be fined with an amount between 200 and 500 yuan ($30 and $74) if they failed to comply with the order.

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