Fifth of UK bee colonies killed

Run time: 01:29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUYgi1ePU2o   Posted on YouTube: May 12, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 12, 2008 By DU Member: lovuian Views on DU: 575

 
Fifth of UK bee colonies killed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/09/wildlife.endangeredspecies

British honeybees have been devastated by bad weather, stress and disease, with more than one in five colonies thought to have been killed off over the winter, according to the government and the British Beekeepers' Association.

Annual colony loss figures have doubled in the past four years, from just over 6% in 2003 to nearly 12% in 2007. With 10% of colonies inspected so far this year, losses are running at over 21%, approaching the decline in the US and parts of continental Europe last year.

Tim Lovett, chair of the beekeepers' association, said: "The rate of loss is important - if it climbs to 25%-30% then we are in serious trouble; if it were to go up to 60%, then we will be out of beekeeping in just a few years."

The food and farming minister, Lord Rooker, has said that without emergency measures the honeybee is likely to disappear from Britain, threatening the £165m-a-year fruit industry.
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And heres the scariest statistic folks not published by US news
n the US, 36% of colonies died last year, largely due to "colony collapse disorder", thought to be linked to the varroa mite and other factors. CCD has spread to France, Germany and Italy but has not been confirmed by government in Britain.

And yet the British government has not confirmed it WHY??? ya gotta wonder whats up with this

and a danger to us. Our family has considered raising bees. What to do?

yet and they could be up higher than the 12 %

and if America is up to 36% then that means we are in a heap load of trouble

it seems absolutely absurd not to make this a emergency of a huge type and set all scientists to solve this

but what do we see that the governments such as Britain don't even acknowledge CCD

WHY? do they wait till the bees are all dead

what secret do they keep from us?

Makes you wonder

as bad as this is, at least here in America it is only domesticated hives that are dying, not wild ones.

So surely it's something we're doing to/feeding to them for harvesting purposes.

I'll have to check and see if its the same situation in Europe.