INDIANAPOLIS -- Police are asking for the public’s help to identify a pair of vandals who damaged a beehive and destroyed crops at a popular Broad Ripple business.
It happened around 10 p.m. last Thursday night outside Public Greens, a micro-farm along the Monon Trail that donates profits to feed hungry children in the community.
Surveillance video shows two men poking and prodding a beehive before they appear to get stung and walk away.
But that wasn’t the only damage the pair caused; they also destroyed crops – even eating some of them while they were vandalizing the place.
“They pulled up crops, they stomped on crops, they ate some of it and ruined some of the beds,” said Maddy Barnas with the Patachou Foundation. “Then they came over and were messing with the beehives.”
Nearly two dozen crops were destroyed by the vandals – and they destroyed one of the beehives so badly that the bees just up and left.
Kate Franzman manages the micro-farm, and she said she could tell that something was wrong as soon as she showed up Friday morning.
“There were lots of bees on the outside of one of the beehives,” said Franzman. “And then about an hour later, they swarmed away.”
The micro-farm lost roughly 10,000 bees because of the vandalism.
“A third of the food we eat is made possible by pollinators,” said Franzman. “Most of the fruits and vegetables, coffee, chocolate even cotton is made from plants that require pollination.”
Anyone with information on who the two people in the surveillance video above are should contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.
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