this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
680 points (98.0% liked)
aww
20006 readers
708 users here now
A place with minimal rules for stuff that makes you go awww! Feel free to post pics, gifs, or videos of cats, dogs, babies, or anything cute and remember to be kind to others.
AI posts must be labeled [AI] in the title and are limited to one per week.
While posting and commenting in this community, you must abide by instance-wide rules: https://mastodon.world/about
- No racism or bigotry.
- Be civil: disagreements happen, but thatdoes not provide the right to personally insult others.
- No SPAM posting.
- No trolling of others.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I don't have enough experience in this field, but I found that a lot of beekeepers are great advocates for the other bees and pollinators. Stressors that affect the honeybees affect other pollinators, and the future of their business depends on having the ecosystem intact.
Similar to other fields (fishing comes to mind), I'd imagine that there are people that farm sustainably/advocate well, and there are those that selfishly put their own needs ahead of others.
Overall this story sounds like a good thing, and I hope it helps all the pollinators out there. At the very least, it might further our understanding of diseases so we can prevent outbreaks in the future
You're right that keeping European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), even though they are introduced/invasive to North America, isn't usually detrimental to native pollinators. However, Apis is in no way in danger; they are an agricultural livestock.
Point is, saying you're "saving the bees" by keeping honey bee hives is like saying you're "saving the birds" by keeping chickens. Weird flex, but okay.