Palm Tree Removal Disrupted By Honey Bees

Bees made themselves at home in woodpecker holes high above a rotten Canary Palm next to a building being remodeled on lower State St. in Santa Barbara on Tuesday.

When Branch Out arborist Chris Newton spotted the swarming bees he called Super Bee of Carpinteria.

Branch Out had been hired to cut the tree at the base, but that plan changed when Super Bee arrived to rescue the bees.

Nick Wigle, the owner of Super Bee and his intern Harley Eblen went to work to save the hive.

“The problem with bees is they are very fragile insects, they are very susceptible to all kinds of problems, whether it’s the drought or pesticides or just getting exterminated by wrong place,” said Wigle.

The bees will be rehabilitated at Super Bee’s Carpinteria ranch

“Bees pollinate a third of the food we eat, so without them, we are in real trouble so doing things like this live bee removal instead of getting this colony destroyed is a benefit for all the bees in our community,” said Wigle.

The tree came down around 8:30 p.m.

It will be removed from the area on Wednesday morning.

For more information about bees log onto www.superbeerescue.com, and for more information about tree removal log onto www.branchouttreecare.com.