More than half a million bees die after shocking act of arson in Texas

Over 500,000 bees perished in a fire following a break-in at a Texas pasture.

Police are searching for the person or people responsible for ripping apart and setting nearly 20 hives on fire at a Brazoria County pasture over the weekend, according to KTRK.

On Saturday, members of the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association came across the wreckage and discovered the remains of 24 colonies, which can take bees up to a year to establish.

"We're looking at 500,000 to 600,000 (bees) that have been destroyed out of that environment," said Steve Brackmann, who sells beekeeping equipment and queen bees.

The estimated number is a staggering loss, considering the honey season has just started. One member of the association, for instance, lost all of the honey he had hoped to sell this summer, the station notes.

While some of the hives were burned, others were taken and thrown into a nearby pond.

"Its [sic] bad enough to think in todays [sic] world this would happen but dumping them over and then setting fire to them is beyond comprehension," the association wrote in Facebook post. "Club has offered a reward to lead to conviction and anyone with info please forward it to the sheriffs [sic] office as a case # has been filed."

There are over 4,000 species of bees in the U.S., many of which are responsible for pollinating crops and other plants, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Yet, the number of bees has fallen over the years due to the increasing use of insecticides, Brackmann told KTRK.

"Tomatoes, squash, watermelons, bees pollinate those," he said. "So if bees don't pollinate those, you get zero vegetables, we would see next to nothing in the vegetable stores."

Since the weekend incident, the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association has asked for donations on Facebook. As of Wednesday afternoon, it has raised more than $13,000 from 450 people.

RELATED: See which crops we'd lose if we no longer had bees: