Child's makes horrifying discovery inside Australia Post parcel: 'It was devastating'

The joy of receiving a parcel in the mail is a universal feeling transcending age and time.

The anticipation of opening a package to reveal its contents brings back a childlike excitement.

However, a recent incident involving Australia Post has cast a shadow over this simple pleasure, especially for one young beekeeper whose excitement turned to heartbreak.


A 16-year-old boy, Quinn, who has a passion for beekeeping, was horrified when he opened an Express Post satchel from Australia Post only to find his ordered queen bee and several nurse bees dead.

‘It was devastating…I really care about my bees, and the last thing I want to do is harm or kill them,’ he said.

The bees, which had been in transit for ten days during high temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, did not survive the journey.


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A teenage beekeeper received a package of dead bees, including a prized queen, prompting calls to change packaging regulations. Credit: Shutterstock


This event sparked a conversation about the transportation of live animals, leading to a public apology from Australia Post.

The Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst has described the incident as 'shocking' and has taken the matter to Parliament, calling for an overhaul of packaging rules.

‘Packages containing these live animals are treated the same as regular mail…and are subject to rough and unpredictable handling in packages that could easily be crushed, lacks air, light, food and water’ she said.


The current guidelines allow bees to be sent through the mail despite the risks associated with rough handling and lack of temperature control during transport.

Australia Post has guidelines for the transportation of bees, including recommendations to send them on Mondays to avoid weekend delays and adherence to strict packaging requirements.

However, Quinn's experience is not unique, and mortalities during transit are not uncommon.

The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council estimated that hundreds of thousands of queen bees are transported annually.

‘We are in regular dialogue with Australia Post, especially when we do have issues. We have been working with them to update those protocols and make sure they are fit for purpose,’ the Council’s CEO Danny Le Feuvre stated.

‘We've got a queen breeding association, and they’ve been doing things like putting temperature tags in consignments to monitor the temperature in transit and see what we can do to improve.’

‘But it is a very large system that they're operating, and there are mistakes from time to time.’


The transportation of bees is crucial for the beekeeping industry, particularly in southern Australia, where weather conditions are not conducive to breeding queen bees.

Beekeepers often source queens from Queensland and northern NSW to support their hives.

While courier services could be an alternative, the cost is prohibitive for many beekeepers, especially when sending to rural areas.

‘Why on earth Australia Post thinks it’s acceptable to allow live animals such as bees to be sent through the post is beyond me,’ she added.

Quinn’s mother, Rebecca, from Byron Bay, reached out to Hurst after feeling that Australia Post lacked empathy for the bees' welfare.

She characterised their response to the bees' loss two weeks ago as ‘aggressive’ and ‘defensive’ until the politician stepped in to support her.


‘My son is pretty sensitive, and he was really excited about the queen bee coming. He was distressed and felt like her dying was his fault,’ he said.

‘Australia Post just really didn’t care. The package even had live queen bees on the outside so that they knew what was inside.’

‘When they finally arrived, they were crispy and in this tiny container, along with the queen bee and her nurses. I was just like, Oh my god, this is heartbreaking. They just slowly died in the mail.’

Australia Post has responded to the incident, stating that they take the utmost care with deliveries of this nature and have apologised to Quinn.

However, Emma Hurst believes that more needs to be done to ensure the well-being of animals in transit and has launched an online petition calling for a ban on the postal transportation of live animals.
Key Takeaways
  • A teenage beekeeper received a package of dead bees, including a prized queen bee, from Australia Post, which led to a call for the overhaul of packaging rules.
  • Australia Post has been criticised for the postal service's handling of live bees, and the Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst has described the incident as 'shocking.'
  • The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council estimates hundreds of thousands of queen bees are transported around the country each year, and despite strict packaging requirements, mortalities still occur.
  • An online petition has been launched, advocating for the ban of live animal transport through Australia Post, following the rejection of calls for Australia Post to review its live animal protocols.
Have you encountered similar issues, or do you have suggestions for how postal services can improve their handling of such deliveries? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.
 
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Surely the bee keeping people should come up with a way to transport the bees humanely.
How does it get to be Australia Posts fault.
If the beekeepers truly cared about the bees they would transport them by courier no matter how much it cost.
Australia Post should refuse to transport them. I don't know how these people, either Australia Post or the beekeepers themselves, can possibly think that this is appropriate.
 
Surely there is a job here for a courier company to start up. That is so cruel and heartbreaking for the Queen bee and he nurses and of course for this young man who loves his bees. No living creature should be sent through the post.
My heart goes out to this young man. Keep up your love of the bees and nature.
Kind regards to all Vicki
 
I had the same problem with my shipment of live crickets. It was in winter and it was very cold. Opened my parcel and they looked all dead. They were not dead but in hibernation. My husband put them in a bucket in front of the fire and they started to come alive. My be Australia post should put them in their cabin and take more care as how else are people supposed to get their live products. Australia post know that they are transporting live inseats and should take more care
 
I had the same problem with my shipment of live crickets. It was in winter and it was very cold. Opened my parcel and they looked all dead. They were not dead but in hibernation. My husband put them in a bucket in front of the fire and they started to come alive. My be Australia post should put them in their cabin and take more care as how else are people supposed to get their live products. Australia post know that they are transporting live inseats and should take more care
I don't think it is appropriate for Australia Post to be delivering live "anything'.
 
The Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst has described the incident as 'shocking' and has taken the matter to Parliament, calling for an overhaul of packaging rules.

Are you kidding? Does Emma Hurst have a can of Mortein or Raid in her household? Is her house overrun with ants, cockroaches and flies? Are insects that precious that Hurst resorts to a Parliamentary inquiry?

I might send her a big box of German Cockroaches by Australia Post.... I hope they arrive ALIVE!!
 
I hope they were compensated by Australia Post for the loss of the bees (full cost). They were alive when Australia post took control of the package, and the package was clearly marked.
 
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Whilst I’m not saying that the transport of live creatures by mail is in any way appropriate, I think that if Australia Post offers the service then they should take proper responsibility for safe delivery, as they should with any kind of delivery. Marking an item as Live Insects, or Fragile or indeed anything else to try and ensure a safe delivery just doesn’t seem to work these days….I don’t know what the answer is but if Australia Post had a dedicated department for the transport of live anything, is one way I can think of………The other way is for them to just stop offering the service altogether and leave it up to another company to offer the service, since there seems to be quite a market for it……. I too get very distressed when I hear that a life has suffered an unnecessary death caused by carelessness……It doesn’t matter how old the boy is, he was clearly looking forward to adding to his hive…..
 
I had the same problem with my shipment of live crickets. It was in winter and it was very cold. Opened my parcel and they looked all dead. They were not dead but in hibernation. My husband put them in a bucket in front of the fire and they started to come alive. My be Australia post should put them in their cabin and take more care as how else are people supposed to get their live products. Australia post know that they are transporting live inseats and should take more care
Why would you want to have crickets ? We went camping a long long time ago in Lands End UK and thats all we heard at night was damn crickets lol
l heard some countries actually eat them coated
 
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Why would you want to have crickets ? We went camping a long long time ago in Lands End UK and thats all we heard at night was damn crickets lol
l heard some countries actually eat them coated
Maybe they have pets whose diet includes live crickets? Maybe frogs, lizards, snakes, chickens, ducks? Dunno.
 
I don't think it is appropriate for Australia Post to be delivering live "anything'.
Why stop people from having pets as a hobby. You can’t always feed them with can food. Frogs, snakes lizards all eat different food. Have you brought live insects in a pet shop. They are not looked after very well. How do they get theirs ?
 
Why stop people from having pets as a hobby. You can’t always feed them with can food. Frogs, snakes lizards all eat different food. Have you brought live insects in a pet shop. They are not looked after very well. How do they get theirs ?
Oh dear!

Why are you so worried about the welfare of insects? If you find a cockroach, beetle, grasshopper or spider in your house, do you pick it up and nurse it like a child?

Or do you resort to the normal human kneejerk reaction - squish the shit out of it with your shoe or drown it copious amounts of permethrin containing insecticide?
 
I hope they were compensated by Australia Post for the loss of the bees (full cost). They were alive when Australia post took control of the package, and the package was clearly marked.
Maybe Australia Post didn't know what was in the parcel
 
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