Like this, but crazier, because it’s in Queens. (Photo by Max Westby.)

New York legalized beekeeping in 2010, but that does not mean that it was cool with city officials when they discovered that a guy in Queens named Yi Gin Chen had 45 beehives in his yard, containing 3 million bees. That’s more bees than there are people who live in Queens.

Reader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free. All donations DOUBLED!

In fact, officials thought it was so uncool that they went over there to see what the fuck was up. Chen insisted that he was a beekeeper in China, and that it was “all he meant to do” here. After a snappy parting line like, “and all we mean to do is take all these bees away from your bee-crazy ass,”  officials took the bees to an undisclosed location. Which is kind of a bummer, because we would have loved to see this guy on Hoarders.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.