The citizens on Vienna have no idea what lurks on their rooftops. A construction worker and a pigeon or two don’t even begin to cover what can be found up there. The musicians at the Vienna Opera and the businessmen who work in the surrounding buildings would never have guessed that they are walking beneath bee colonies!
Viennese beekeepers are trying to encourage honeybees to live in cities as opposed to in the countryside, since urban areas are a lot safer for them. This sounds a little backwards, doesn’t it? Why would a busy city with air swimming with car exhaust be better than the clean, crisp wilderness? As it turns out, the countryside is full of pesticides sprayed by farmers to keep bugs off their crops. The pesticides do their job, all right; bees are dying like never before.
Another reason for the decline in the bee population is that Varroa mites prey on the blood of honeybees, which is what kills them off. By moving bees into the city, beekeepers will have better control over what things come in contact with them and will also be able to monitor the Varroa situation more closely.
People living in Vienna need not fear of an increased number of bee stings or anything like that. The bees are being carefully kept up on the roofs to keep them well away from the public. Lots of government buildings are actually happy to let beekeepers have bees on their roofs because it means free honey for them! Hopefully, this change of scenery will help the honeybee population get back on its feet!