New Montana-style Bee Apiary

A driver near Missoula created some buzz after being pulled over on Interstate 90 last week with thousands of bees in a sedan.

The Montana Highway Patrol received a call about noon May 22 from a motorist who saw another car that seemed to be filled with bees. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vehicle was driving all over the road.

When troopers stopped the vehicle, they removed the driver from the red sedan. The driver told troopers that the “Russian honeybees” were “harmless,” according to the highway patrol report from the stop. There were five hives and thousands of bees inside the car.

Troopers contacted the state apiarist — Montana’s beekeeper-in-chief — who told them that having five hives riding shotgun was a “very unsafe” way to transport bees. However, the driver needed no permits to transport the bees through the state.

Troopers cited the driver for careless driving.

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