That’s what volunteer organisation My Bee Savior does very well: saving two-legged beings from impulsively killing the winged buzzy ones through misguided overreaction.
My Bee Savior volunteer members go to houses and apartments after a ‘distress’ call by home gardeners and occupants, remove unwanted bee hives or nests together with the honey bees and move them safely to another location.
There, these Apis Cerana, Apis Dorsata and the Apis Florea continue to see the light of many more days.
“We get close to a hundred cases in the peak season between February and July, and that’s just in the Cheras area,” says Cathy Kong, who is an active volunteer member of My Bee Savior and independent accountant by day.
“The bees are just making a pit stop and having a rest during migration, but people get scared when they see them swarming.”
Traditionally, Kong explains, the fire brigade and Jabatan Pertahanan Awam Malaysia (JPAM) would take care of uninvited bee nests or hives.
But, she laments, the standard operating procedure then was “to burn the whole swarm”.
“When people think of honey bees, the first thing that comes to mind is danger,” she says, before adding that people simply didn’t know that the fire brigade would kill the bees with fire.
Things have changed since then, as Kong now liaises with both the fire brigade and JPAM to help both residents and bees.
As a result, homeowners and city folk who have discovered bee colonies, nests or hives tucked in a corner of a tree or on the sidewall of a home, some of which include high-ranking public figures, have praised the group’s efforts.
“Sometimes, people don’t know the bees have been there for months or even a year,” smiles the 34-year-old kindly, “But when they notice it – and these hives can be as small as a human palm or the size of a car tyre – they’d call emergency services, which would then call us.”
So, what do they use to capture, save and relocate the bees?
“Nets and hives, depending on the bee type,” says Kong.
Apparently, the Apis Dorsata can’t be kept in hives, and they can fly as high as level 23 of the Petronas Twin Towers – which happened once.
Post-rescue, the bees are released to the nearest forest area and the honey is harvested, in varying amounts, and later distributed.
My Bee Savior took flight as an independent band of volunteers in 2020, reliant entirely on self-funding, donations or sponsorship, after its beginnings as a group and a sub-programme under the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI).
Unfortunately, news came in 2019 that the agency would no longer support this initiative in terms of funding due to a change in its leadership structure and direction.
Fortunately, however, by early 2020, the 200-member volunteer group took it upon themselves to continue solo and pursue My Bee Savior’s greater intention, which is something beyond simply removing harmless hives.
It is, as Kong articulates, environmental conservation.
“We want people to know that honey bees will just do their own thing if you don’t disturb them. They won’t harm you,” she emphasises.
Kong also wants the public to understand that these honey bees are simply in migration when they land on a home garden or where there is food, such as fruit or bushy trees.
In some cases, says Kong, the honey bees simply chill in a garden for as little as three days, quietly clinging to one another (thus giving the appearance of a much larger mass resembling a nest or protrusion), before flying off.
“They also like to wander around,” she laughs, before adding, “But at night, they are inactive in the hive, because they are night-blind. That is why My Bee Savior only works after sunset.”
My Bee Savior is in need of more volunteer members, as most of them are working adults who dedicate their time to saving bees after work.
Kong herself was a stingless bee hobbyist and enthusiast, and stumbled across the association in her online search for more information about bees and honey production.
But Kong adds that My Bee Savior is also on the hunt for a piece of land near the KL Tower to help them continue their conservation efforts, as well as for members of the community to adopt a hive or several.
“Bees do not harm the environment, so why do we need to kill them?” says Kong, who insists that if humans do not attempt to disturb the bees with force by any means, one does not need to worry about being stung.
“We want to create more awareness that the bees are not a danger. We need to learn to co-exist with them. If anything, the bees are in danger of disappearing,” she cautions.
When bees disappear entirely, she says, there’ll be no pollination, no plants and as a result, no animals that traditionally feed on those plants.
In three years, humans could face a food crisis.
This is why My Bee Savior is rightly dedicated to saving the bees and from the effects of misinformation.
If you’re curious about how My Bee Savior do what they do and feel like lending the bees a helping hand, net or hive, check out the group’s Facebook page and see them buzzing in action on their YouTube channel.