SALEM -- A mystery in West Salem. Cars in one neighborhood are getting splattered with a sticky, gooey substance.
Casondra VanDoren first noticed the problem back in May. Her SUV was covered in this yellow sticky goop.
We came out one day and it was just splattered, VanDorenexplained. We've tried washing it and it's going to take pretty much a power-wash to get it off.
She lives at the Applewood Apartments off Highway 22, where just about every car in the parking lot is covered with the goop.
Including Vern Sahnow's car.
It's sticky and messy and just a pain, he said.
Frustrated with the mess, Sahnow did some digging and came to an interesting conclusion with the help of a beekeeper friend. He believes the goop is actually bee poop.
The way this stuff comes on so quick you'd think the sky would be blacked out a couple times a day, but I haven t seen any more bees this year than I normally do, he said.
KGW brought longtime beekeeper Mike Rodia out to the apartment complex to get his expert opinion.
He said some of the goo does resemble bee droppings but it would have had to come from hundreds if not thousands of bees.
This is extraordinary to see this amount on this many vehicles... it does happen but nothing to this extent, he said.
So he question remains: Where would all these bees be coming from?
Rodia said one possibly could be that bees living in the bushes and trees around the area are sick.
There is a disease called Nosema that causes the runs in honey bees, he said.
Rodia said it would be unusual for bees to have that illness this late in the summer, unusual but not impossible.
He pointed out that bees do normally recover from the intestinal illness and encourages the apartment complex residents to be patient.
