Courtesy Hayes Valley Farm

About 300,000 bees were killed when somebody poured pesticide into the hive.

Earlier this week, somebody intentionally sprayed pesticides into the entrances and ventilation holes of bee hives at the Hayes Valley Farm, a two-acre sliver of land under what used to be the Central Freeway.

The perp destroyed two healthy colonies of bees and did major damage to a third. In each of the two destroyed hives, up to 100,000 individual bees perished. The third hive lost more than half of its population.

This bit of eco-terrorism will have an emotional toll on the farm’s mission and that of groups like SF Bee Cause, which works to promote apiculture in San Francisco.

There’s also the economic impact. After factoring in the cost of equipment, the hive, the market value of thriving colonies and the value of the honey, the farm estimates it lost about $2,000. To grassroots efforts like these, that’s real money, Karen Peteros of the hives blogged.

“We planned to sell [the honey] to support the work of SFBC,” writes Peteros.

Samples of the pesticide and dead bees will be analyzed to determine the exact substance used. The motivations for the attack are unknown. Peteros imagines it could have been an anti-bee message, but says that the European honey bees being raised rarely sting and never attack the way other species do, which is why raising bees is legal in San Francisco.