New York Police Remove 2,000 Bees From Times Square Restaurant

The New York Police Department's (NYPD's) bee unit was called to a restaurant in Times Square on Monday where roughly 2,000 bees had gathered near the seating area. The officials safely removed the bees from the place, NYPD said in a post on Twitter.

Times Square was buzzing today!@NYPDBees was called in to safely remove 2,000 bees from a restaurant seating area near the crossroads of the world. The ???? will now be relocated to an area where their pollenating skills will be put to good use. pic.twitter.com/iWAyaQttkp

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) June 26, 2022

The bees will now be relocated to an area where their pollenating skills will be put to good use, the police futher said.

The police also shared some pictures shared of the work carried out by its officials with the caption, "Times Square was buzzing today." The photos showed an NYPD official removing the hive with his bare hands from a corner of the seating area.

Users expressed their gratitude for the department's excellent job by leaving heartfelt comments.

"Thank you very much! Bees are important pollinators and have become at-risk from habitat loss, pesticides, climate change & disease. People who care about stewardship of the earth & having a good food supply are very appreciative," a user wrote.

The official was praised by another user who wrote, "That officer is really brave going after the bees without protective gear.

Recently, a court in California, in the United States, has in an order classified bumblebees as fish, thereby extending the legal protection of endangered species to them.

The decision was reached after agricultural organisations petitioned for the bees' legal protection. These organisations claimed that insects are not included under the definition of the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), which only includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, and plants.

They then filed a case against state wildlife officials, requesting that CESA be applied to four bumblebee species: the Crotch, Franklin, Suckley cuckoo, and Western bumble bee. The case of the California Almond Alliance v. Fish and Game Commission then went to the California State Appellate Court of the Third District, where justices gave bumblebees a broad meaning of the term "fish" to include them under it.