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Ogden • A northern Utah beekeeper says dozens of his insects are dead after a mosquito-spraying truck drove through his Farr West neighborhood.

Joe Benstog found his bees dead and dying around their hive on June 29 just hours after a Weber Mosquito Abatement District truck sprayed the area, The Standard-Examiner reported.

Weber County Bee Inspector Brock Lenox said he did not see the bees at the time, but that the insecticides used by mosquito abatement districts can harm bees. He said typically the district sprays at night, when bees are in their hives, to avoid affecting the insects.

District records show a mosquito repellant was sprayed outside of Benstog's house in the morning when bees would be awake because of high winds. "In the videos, the bees do look like they were exposed to some sort of agent," Lenox said.

He occasionally gets complaints about bees being killed by mosquito fogging, but it is infrequent, Lenox said.

"In the seven years I've been doing this, I've had maybe six of those calls," he said. "There are rules and regulations for spraying, and if sprayers follow those rules, there really shouldn't be a problem."

The state shares a list of registered beekeepers with mosquito abatement districts so district workers can be careful when spraying near beehives, said Stephen Stanko, an apiary inspector with the State of Utah Entomology Lab.

Ryan Arkoudas, director of the Weber Mosquito Abatement District, said there are about 170 registered hives in Weber County but his office was not aware of Bernstog's hive.

"We're in a difficult situation," Arkoudas said. "On the one side we get people who say, 'I don't want you to spray, I'm worried about my bees or other pollinators,' or 'I just flat-out don't like pesticides.' But on the other side, I've got people saying, 'You're not spraying enough. I'm worried about West Nile (virus) with my children or grandchildren, and I don't care about the bees.' "

Since Benstog's complaint, Arkoudas said mosquito abatement has instituted a 100-foot buffer around Benstog's home.