Post office bee ban overturned in sweet victory for beekeepers

SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS - In a sweet victory for beekeepers, the U.S. Postal Service has lifted a ban on the shipment of honeybees from southern states to waiting hives in the north. <br> <br> Each spring, millions of bees head north in crates, instead of on the wing, shipped by Southern breeders to replace Northern stock killed by winter cold and parasitic mites. <br> <br> The president of Wilbanks Apiaries Incorporated, Reg Wilbanks, said Thursday ``We were so happy we broke out the champagne.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Wilbanks said the restriction would have cost his Claxton, Georgia, operation, which annually ships more than 240 million bees, from $70,000-$100,000. <br> <br> The ruling by R. Wayne Graves, manager of rules and classification for the postal service, overturned a policy instituted last October by a regional manager in Georgia that would have limited shipments to 600 miles. <br> <br> Graves said he upheld Wilbanks appeal, because, under postal regulations, advance notice is the only additional requirement for long-distance shipment of bees. <br> <br> The Georgia manager, Tracy Peugh, could not be reached. However, he had said in letters to protesting beekeepers that his 600-mile limit had been in response to complaints about bees dying during shipment and spills of a sweet syrup used to feed the bees during transit.