Without the humble little bee, it would only take three years before humans would begin to perish.
That’s what Carl ‘The Bee Man’ Skinner wants us to understand as he spreads his message to ‘save the bees’.
“I’m a qualified horticulturist by trade, I’ve been doing that for about 15 years,” he said.
“As times progress, I’ve noticed we’re putting a lot more plants in the ground that aren’t reproducing by themselves.
“Clients are spending a lot of money to replace plants, but why? And the answer is bees. Without pollination nothing grows.”
For this reason, about three years ago Mr Skinner took his skills and applied them to rescuing and rehoming bees.
He is currently taking care of over 20 hives at two different locations in the local area.
“Inside of a beehive, there is roughly 35,000 to 45,000 bees,” he said.
“Within three years of bees not being on the planet, we would start perishing because everything revolves around the little bee.
“If no pollination happens, cows can’t eat and we won’t have any meat. There’ll be no fruit or vegetables, even Australian native trees flower and need pollination.”
Mr Skinner is quickly becoming a well known icon in Penrith, with his interesting and bizarre bee rescues that have seen him go viral online.
“The Penrith area is growing rapidly, we’re knocking down a lot of natural habitats,” he said.
“A lot of the bees are recently looking for alternative places to live, hence why I’m getting call outs to walls, people’s roofs, barbecues.
“If they’ve got nowhere native they can live, they’ve got to find somewhere.
“Prior to me starting this, people would give pest control a call, and they would go out there and eliminate whole colonies,” he said.
“Instead of calling pest control, give me a call and I will come out and rescue those bees.
If they sting you, they die, and the last thing they want to do is die.”
After rescuing the bees, Mr Skinner also sells their fresh, pure honey for locals to enjoy.
Keep up to date with The Bee Man’s rescues online at www.facebook.com/penrithbeeman.
Emily Newton is the Weekender’s police and political reporter. Emily is also the Weekender’s Senior Journalist.
