California beekeepers turn to GPS tracking and cameras to foil hive thefts

Beehives rented for crop pollination in an orchard in Woodland, California. About a thousand beehive boxes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars have been reported stolen across California the past few weeks. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Not far from Silicon Valley, a technological boom is occurring among beekeepers desperate to find new ways to avoid hives being stolen by criminals amid a dwindling supply of bees across the US.

Thefts are becoming so common in the Central Valley area of California that beekeepers are using GPS tracking devices, surveillance cameras and other anti-theft technology to safeguard their honeybee colonies.