Local man works to save bees

Lonnie Rogers just wants to save the bees.
Rogers of Bayou Vista and his business partner, Mike Robison of Patterson, rescue bees and move them from unwanted places. Bees can get into a building by finding a small spot to squeeze or via a decaying wall, Rogers said.
A couple of years ago, Rogers learned that honey bees are dying at an alarming rate from colony collapse disorder, he said.
“The scientists don’t even know what’s causing it. They’re suspecting maybe pesticides or something like that,” Rogers said.
CCD can kill a honey bee colony instantly, Rogers said. He recognizes honey bees’ importance in the environment.
“It’s very viable to have bees for the pollen for the food chain,” Rogers said.
Rogers started researching on the Internet how he could help with the problem, he said. Rogers works to remove and relocate the bees while raising them to produce honey, he said.
“What we do is we relocate. We do not kill. We don’t want to kill. … They’re dying at an alarming rate in the United States, and they can’t figure out what to do. So they need more people like me in the world to try to save them,” Rogers said.
Bees get really active in the spring, and, during the past three weeks, Rogers has rescued honey bees at eight or nine different sites, he said. When the springtime flowers come out, “the bees start moving,” Rogers said. Once Rogers captures the queen, the rest of the bees follow, he said.
Honey bees are mostly dormant during the winter, but the queen lays thousands of eggs, he said.
“When the springtime comes, they just bust out the seams,” Rogers said. Rogers can be contacted at 985-518-2670.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com