Morgan Freeman transforms his 124-acre ranch into bee sanctuary to save the planet

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

For many people, Morgan Freeman is still best-known as the voice of God.

But now the iconic 84-year-old actor has created his very own Garden of Eden after transforming his 124-acre ranch into a bee sanctuary to help save the planet.

Freeman previously spoke about his love of beekeeping in this interview with Jimmy Fallon:

Per Forbes, the Dark Knight Rises star imported 26 beehives from Arkansas and moved them to the estate of his sprawling property in Charleston, Mississippi.

Freeman first spoke about his then-recent love of beekeeping in a 2014 interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, stating that he had a large number of bee-friendly flowers for them to pollinate, stating:

"There is a concerted effort for bringing bees back onto the planet… We do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation.

"I have a lot of flowering things, and I have a gardener too. As she takes care of the bees too, all she does is figure out: 'OK, what would they like to have?'

"So we have got acres and acres of clover, and we have some planting stuff like lavender. I have got like, maybe 140 magnolia trees, big blossoms."

He added: "I have not ever used the beekeeping hat with my bees. They haven’t stung me yet, as right now I am not trying to harvest honey or anything, but I just feed them.

"I also think that they understand: 'Hey, don’t bother this guy, he’s got sugar water here.'"

Bee numbers have been in a steep decline over the last 50 years, with the organization Bee Informed Partnership reporting a 44% loss in bee colonies between 2015 and 2016 in the United States alone.

The EPA has highlighted Colony Collapse Disorder as their primary reason for their population drop, as well as parasites such as  Varroa destructor and Nosema ceranae.

However, the decline of hives also blamed on the use of genetically modified crops, harmful pesticides, and a worldwide loss of flowering plants in a 2015 study published in Science.

Although there is no evidence to suggest that bee species are in danger of extinction in the near future, the shortage of hives will have a knock-on effect on their ecosystems.

What's more, according to a 2015 study published in the zoological journal Nature, a mere 2% of bees have been found to be responsible for pollinating 80% of crops on the planet Earth.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy/PA Images