Shirley Stapley remembers crying the day a few springs ago when one of her strongest hives perished.
“It’s just heartbreaking. Every beekeeper feels for their bees,” said Stapley, who kept bees near the rural Ottawa community of North Gower. “When there’s losses you feel them deeply.”
Stapley stopped beekeeping. The challenges had become worse and worse, from varroa mites — a parasite that lives off bee colonies — to tough weather that can wipe out hives.
“A lot of the beekeepers are seeing 75 per cent of their hives being lost over winter,” she said.
“That is climate change, because there is such a drastic change in temperature
