Experts plan to rappel from the roof of an Austin hotel to move thousands of honeybees from a hive on the exterior of the 11th floor.
KXAN-TV reported the effort is planned Sunday at a Holiday Inn Austin at Lady Bird Lake.
No guests have been stung at the 14-story hotel but officials were concerned about the swarm and did not want the bees killed.
The better idea is to relocate the hive and thousands of bees, said Tod Peddie, hotel marketing director.
"I said, `Wait a minute, bees are in decline everywhere,"' Peddie said. "Let's take a look at removing them the right way."
Walter Schumacher of the American Honey Bee Protection Agency was contacted to help. The from-the-roof plan is for a crew to rappel, detach the hive intact and rebuild it into smaller hives, Schumacher said. The hives will be moved to the country.
"It's crazy, it's insane, probably shouldn't be done. But we're going to do it," Schumacher said. "We'll get the queen and everybody else will follow."
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Hotel officials hope to someday serve guests honey from the relocated hives
