The White House has been overrun by huge swarm of bees in shocking footage
Topics: Melania Trump, Washington, Animals, Environment
William Morgan
Featured Image Credit: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Melania Trump, Washington, Animals, Environment
The center of power in America has been overrun by a plague of insects of its own making. No, this is not some grand metaphor, there are currently thousands of bees swarming the White House.
Visitors passing the public-facing North Lawn on Friday were horrified to see swarms of tiny black dots covering the White House's front yard, which also functions as the entrance for important visitors and officials.
On closer inspection, these swarms are actually whole colonies from the president's own extensive collection of beehives, doing what all honey bees do as flowers come into bloom and their numbers expand.
The cloud of loudly buzzing bees took up residence around an area where the press corps typically congregates and even began setting up a hive in a nearby tree - just weeks after First Lady Melania Trump revealed her expansion to the White House honey operation.
While the North Lawn swarm sent staffers and reporters scrambling to get into the West Wing as the honey bees gathered en masse just feet away, it was only a short time ago that they were entertaining royalty.
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The first lady had taken the UK's King Charles III and Queen Camilla on a tour of her new beehive collection during their state visit, which Melania has recently expanded from two hives to four.
During their tour of the South Lawn, the British monarchs were shown these new hives, built to look like the White House, even enjoying a moment of levity with the famously green-fingered king as one of the worker bees hovered in front of them.
But with their new colony booming and a whole world of nectar out there for them to consume, it appears that these bees are looking for a bigger hive.
But while these swarms have scared away politicos, they have an essential and lesser-known role in the everyday operations of the White House.
Not only do they help to pollinate the thousands of plants that decorate the grounds of the building and help boost yields from the White House Kitchen Garden, but they also have a subtle role in diplomacy.
These roughly 70,000 honey bees produce around 225 pounds of honey over the course of the year, with this natural product then used as a final finesse by the kitchens to sweeten teas and make desserts - with 100 percent White House honey.
This practice began during the Obama administration, with then-First Lady Michelle Obama expanding a project began by a White House workman, Charlie Brandt, who began keeping bees in the ground as a personal project.