“3/26/2008, 3:10pm EST”
Sudden, Massive, and Mysterious: First the bees, now the bats →
There has been a sudden, massive, and mysterious die-off of bees in recent years. Possible factors being looked at are pesticides, viruses, or parasites. This experiential article, written by an organic beekeeper, identifies the shrinking of the natural hive cells as one of the main causes of bee die-offs at many commercial beekeeping operations.
Whatever the most immediate causes for these population plunges, there is no disputing the causal relationship between humanist practices — which limit the scope of concern to the immediate preferences of human animals alone — and these unprecedented die-offs.
As usual, most of the expressed concern has centered upon the most direct consequences to human animals: the loss of a significant source of agricultural pollination and related financial detriments.
And now, bats — who act as important checks on insect populations and are pollinators themselves — are also dying at extremely alarming rates. A full 90% of hibernating bats in several caves in New York state have died this winter, and estimates predict up to 500,000 bat deaths in the northeastern United States this year alone.
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