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Thousands Of Honeybees Killed At North Suburban Golf Resort

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police in north suburban Lincolnshire have launched an investigation into who killed tens of thousands of honeybees on the grounds of an upscale golf resort.

The Lincolnshire Marriott sits on 170 acres along Milwaukee Avenue and Route 22. In 2013, it set up a honeybee colony located just south of the resort's vegetable garden.

"We have 20 beehives that house about almost a million Italian honeybees," said general manager Kristin Duncan. "They make and we harvest honey that is used in a lot of our dishes here on property and sell in the gift shop."

When her executive chef went out to collect the day's honey a couple of weeks ago, he noticed three cans of bug spray lying on the ground, and thousands of bees were dead inside five of the colonies.

"When our culinary team was going out recently to harvest some of the honey, to remove some of the honey from the hives, at that time saw several cans of Raid Wasp & Hornet nest killer spray that were discarded right by the hives," Duncan said. "Then, upon further investigation, then discovered that the bees were all dead in five of the hives. So they killed about 50,000 bees. That's 25 percent of our colony. That's a lot of bees."

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The Lincolnshire Marriott Resort is one of the few hotels across the country that offers a 'farm to table' concept with their farm, gardens and bee colony. Duncan said they also have a partnership with Lake Bluff Brewing company, where they provide the honey they use to make Honey Badger Beer which is sold at the resort.

"We own a lot of land which allows us to be more sustainable," Duncan said.

Police believe someone snuck onto the grounds and used the pesticides to kill the bees. Duncan says the area is remote and off the beaten path and has no idea why someone would do this.

"We're not really sure what benefit it would serve by doing this, because it's in a remote area. They're not bothering anybody. They're not an aggressive bee unless they're provoked, and like I said they're not in an area that is disturbing the public, be it in the nearby residential areas or on our golf course" Duncan said.

Duncan says come spring, they will beef up security and patrols in the area.

"The hives remain dormant during the winter months but come spring, we are already discussing about patrolling that area more regularly, having some surveillance in that area just to make sure it's checked more regularly so we can prevent this from happening again," she said.

Lincolnshire Police were investigating. Anyone with information is urged to call them.

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