'She's opening the bees!' US beekeeper jailed for trying to save friend from eviction

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/massachusetts-beekeeper-jailed-eviction

‘She’s opening the bees!’ US beekeeper jailed for trying to save friend from eviction

Massachusetts woman set swarms of insects on sheriff’s deputies attempting to evict elderly man with cancer

Richard Luscombe
Tue 28 Apr 2026 07.44 EDT

A beekeeper has been jailed for six months after she set swarms of her insects on sheriff’s deputies attempting to carry out an eviction at a friend’s house.

Rebecca Woods insisted she only released her truckload of hives to allow the bees to enjoy the “lovely, flowering landscape” near the home of an elderly friend and cancer patient.

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Her friend was a man in his 80s who was undergoing cancer treatment, she said, and had gone to a local library to see about filing a motion to halt the eviction, while Woods drove the bees to his house. “It really was just a sincere hope that he would not suffer the humiliation and devastation of going through an eviction, of losing your home,” Saldarelli said.

According to the Times, a jury acquitted Woods of seven felonies but convicted her guilty of four misdemeanor counts of assault and battery and two counts of reckless assault.

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