Timber Wolf Where? And New York City's Criminal Beekeepers

Wolves have begun appearing once again in Illinois. Bob Coine of Building Whitetail Paradise, and Heartland Studios, Inc. has what, may appear to be a wolf in a picture from his trail cam. (March 19, 2010)

The Chicago Tribune

WAS IT A WOLF?
By Ted Gregory

Sure, the bushy, four-legged critter photographed up close in a snowy field near Oregon, Ill., might be a big dog.
(He could have walked right by my house to get to Oregon, Ill. D.B.)

But Bob Coine doesn't think so. He thinks it's a wolf. So does Bob Bluett, whose opinion carries a little more official weight. Bluett is a wildlife biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and he viewed the picture Coine posted on his Web site, heartlandillinois.com.

If they're right, the image may be the first photograph of a wild gray wolf in Illinois, Coine said in an essay on the Web site. It also represents a tiny upswing of the wolf's re-emergence in the state.

"At first glance, I thought it was a big male coyote," Coine wrote. "But after comparing other photos from the same camera containing deer and coyotes, I became suspicious that in fact it was a wolf."...

For the rest of the story click the link below--
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-talk-illinois-wolf-0320-20100318,0,2590276.story







Yes Folks, beekeeping has been illegal in New York City for quite some time. Although I'm completely sure that the number of people who are killed by motor traffic in the city is astronomical compared with deaths from bee stings from domesticated hived bees and they haven't outlawed cars yet. Beekeeping may be illegal but it's a closely guarded secret that the the city does have official bee nabbers.

Bill Walters tells a story about discovering a large swarm of honey bees on a traffic light in Brooklyn. The authorities were called, hard to see what color the light was after all, and a large curious crowd was formed. People with sense prevented boys from throwing rocks at the swarm. Because after all, the bees were just doing what they do, which they would continue to do if left unmolested. Unfortunately what they do when hit by projectiles is less lovely then what they were originally doing so nix on the rocks.

Folks of an earlier generation have less sympathy for those with that kind of propensity, "My father would have said about the rock throwers, "Some people are just too dumb to live."

In a bit a man appeared in a van. He walked up to the swarm of bees and inserted a stick. The swarm surrounded the stick, where upon the bee man walked over to his van, holding the stick and hence that swarm, and deposited the bees in a container, closed the van door and drove away. No muss, no fuss.


Bees in the City? New York May Let the Hives Come Out of Hiding
By MIREYA NAVARRO
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html?emc=etal




Kathleen Boyer suspects the mailman.




She said she could not think of anyone else in her neighborhood who would have complained about the two beehives she kept under a pine tree in her front yard in Flatbush, Brooklyn, leading the city’s health department to fine her $2,000 last fall.




“I was kind of surprised,” said Mrs. Boyer, an art director with a media company. “People see us in our bee suit and they’d bring their kids to watch us and ask us questions.”




New York City is among the few jurisdictions in the country that deem beekeeping illegal, lumping the honeybee together with hyenas, tarantulas, cobras, dingoes and other animals considered too dangerous or venomous for city life. But the honeybee’s bad rap — and the days of urban beekeepers being outlaws — may soon be over.




On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s board will take up the issue of amending the health code to allow residents to keep hives of Apis mellifera, the common, nonaggressive honeybee. Health department officials said the change was being considered after research showed that the reports of bee stings in the city were minimal and that honeybees did not pose a public health threat.




The officials were also prodded by beekeepers who, in a petition and at a public hearing last month, argued that their hives promoted sustainable agriculture in the city.




A ban, of course, has not deterred many New Yorkers from setting up hives on rooftops and in yards and community gardens, doing it as a hobby, to pollinate their plants or to earn extra income from honey. Although the exact number of beekeepers in the city is unknown, many openly flout the law. They have their own association, hold beekeeping workshops, sell their honey at farmers’ markets and tend to their hives as unapologetically as others might jaywalk, blaming their legal predicament on people’s ignorance of bees.




“People fear that if there’s a beehive on their rooftop, they’ll be stung,” said Andrew Coté, president of the New York City Beekeepers Association, which was formed two years ago and has 220 members.




“Honeybees are interested in water, pollen and nectar,” he said. “The real danger is the skewed public perception of the danger of honeybees.”




Still, some beekeepers say their renegade status causes headaches.




Sam Elchert, 22, a Columbia University student who is majoring in writing and philosophy, said it took him months to find a suitable home for his hives, which resemble short wood filing cabinets with movable frames inside. His building’s management turned him down, fearing legal problems because of the hives, he said.







A community garden in Brooklyn welcomed the hives, but wanted them tucked away in the bushes where they would not get the sunlight they needed.




A friend of Mr. Elchert’s, who owned a brownstone in Manhattan complete with a backyard, declined to house the hives because his father was a lawyer, Mr. Elchert said.







So did Columbia, where officials in charge of dining services and some green roofs said no, though they were supportive.




A teacher hosted the bees on her farm in Connecticut for a couple of months while Mr. Elchert kept up his search for a home for his hives. Finally, in June, a community garden in Harlem agreed, and Mr. Elchert goes there every other week to tend to the hives.







He said that an article he read last year about beekeeping introduced him to the hobby, which he finds “oddly relaxing,” he said. He said he had also read about declines in the bee population and wanted to do his part to nurture the insects.




“It is a good cause, and there’s some sense of morality, even if we’re not on the right side of the law,” he said.
But Mr. Elchert admits that so far he has found his hobby more “nerve-racking” than relaxing, and inspects the garden only on weekdays to avoid weekend crowds.




“What if somebody, some cop, sees me?” he said. “It’d cost me $2,000. It’d really ruin my day.”




Busted beekeepers, as it turns out, are not exactly common. In 2009, 53 inspections were conducted in response to calls related to the harboring of bees and wasps, health officials said, and 13 resulted in notices of violation and fines of $200 to $2,000. In 2008, 48 inspections were made and 7 citations were issued.




Beekeepers say that beekeeping is a relatively low-maintenance and inexpensive endeavor — Mr. Elchert said he spent $500 on hives, equipment and about 20,000 bees to start.




Recently, 70 people filled a room in Lower Manhattan for an “Urban Beekeeping 101” workshop held by the New York City Beekeepers Association.




The class seemed more concerned about the challenges of keeping hives in tight, tall spaces than with the legality of beekeeping, asking questions like: “How high should the hives be?” (About five stories.) And “How much space is needed around the hives so that the bees can fly out to pollinate?” (At least 10 feet.)




But some students were worried about their liability should someone be stung, a hazard that leads most beekeepers to wear protective gear when they tend their hives.




“I’m not even allowed on the roof of my building,” said Matt Griffin, 33, a cook from Queens who said he would probably wait for the law to change and figure out “a few issues” before setting up his hives.




Katrinka Moore, 56, a poet and book editor in the financial district, said that if the law changed, she would ask neighboring churches to host her bees.




That would mean an end to life on the run for Mrs. Boyer’s two hives. They are now lodged with a friend — Mrs. Boyer would not say where — but she plans to retrieve them once they are legal.




Mrs. Boyer said that she and her husband, Chico, took up beekeeping last year so that they could teach workshops in Haiti, where Mr. Boyer was born.




The earthquake has delayed the couple’s plans, but their hives are thriving with 80,000 bees that have yielded more than 100 pounds of honey.




“We gave it to friends for Christmas,” Mrs. Boyer said. “They love it. Everybody is asking for more.”




Ms. Moore said that after working in advocacy against gas drilling in upstate New York, she looked to beekeeping for some relief.




She said: “You get honey. You’re also pollinating gardens. It’s such a positive, happy thing to do.”

BRING ON THE BEES
By MIREYA NAVARRO

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/bring-on-the-bees/?emc=etal
New York City’s board of health voted Tuesday to lift a ban against beekeeping, legalizing the hives of hundreds of residents who have tended bees in defiance of the law.




The unanimous vote amends the health code to allow residents to keep hives of Apis mellifera, the common, nonaggressive honeybee. Beekeepers will be required to register with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and to adhere to appropriate practices. That means they must be able to control bee swarms and ensure that the hives do not interfere with pedestrians or neighbors.




“Can we dance here?” Jim Fischer, a beekeeper who attended the meeting, asked after the vote. He and other members of beekeeping groups like the Gotham City Honey Cooperative and the New York City Beekeeping Meetup, with a combined membership of more than 600 people, said they were overjoyed and predicted their ranks would expand now that their pursuit was legal.




“We’re elated,” said Ruby Chen, another beekeeper. “It’s nice to focus on bees and not have to worry about politics.”

And for our Red-tail fix of the day, a photograph of Rose by Pat Gonzalez