Bee 'robbing season' strikes at popular Auckland café
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A popular Auckland café in New Zealand has been battling bee "robbing season" as the insects target sweet treats and pastries.
Photos show the bees walking across the sweet treats at Daily Bread, with customer Bianca Parshotam saying she complained after her experience at the store.
The Point Chevalier store has since installed new covers for its cabinets.
Parshotam said she was in the store to buy a sandwich when around 20 bees flew in the door and began crawling over all the sweet treats.
The pastries had been in a partially covered cabinet, she said, with a big opening where staff could grab items out.
"It was just so disgusting to see in-person," Parshotam said.
The bees are in the middle of
The store told her that the bees were attracted to the sugar - which many of their products were either made with, or glazed with.
Daily Bread general manager Kieran Evans said a custom casing was installed into the store on Wednesday to help with the immediate problem, while the bees are relocated.
"We take food safety seriously here, that's why we've taken the actions we have," Evans said.
Evans said they believed the problem dates back some years from a hive on their roof as part of a project to establish better city pollination.
After removing the hive and still having problems, Evans said they were told by experts it was likely a poorly maintained hive in the area.
"Bees continued to be an issue after this and we've currently got a 'fake' hive set up through another company to relocate the bee population that's still coming onto the site."
"We're sad to have moved our bee hive, it was a project we were proud of having. But, it was necessary to resolve the issue."
Experts had told the store that it was "robbing season" for bees, where they start storing honey for the winter.
This article first appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.
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