Bees living on Norte Dame’s roof survive blaze

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, April 21 

The bees that were living on Norte Dame’s roof are alive and buzzing. 

Everyone assumed some 200,000 bees died at perished in the blaze. However, Nicolas Géant, the cathedral's beekeeper, has confirmed that the bees are alive and buzzing.

Mr Géant has looked after the cathedral's three beehives since 2013, when they were installed.

"Instead of killing them, the CO2 (from smoke) makes them drunk, puts them to sleep," beekeeper explained.

It is a known fact that bees don’t have lungs, which is why the smoke did not affect them adversely. 

The hives sit on top of the sacristy by Notre-Dame's south side, around 30m (98 ft) below the main roof. 

As a result, Mr Géant says they remained untouched by the flames.

The aim of these installations was to help the cathedral to preserve biodiversity, as stated in Notre Dame’s website, the hives were installed to “remind people of the beauty of Creation and the responsibility of mankind towards it”.