It's been an unseasonably warm day today and my bees have out. It seems they have created some inconvenience at a local convenience store down the block. This store has resorted to setting out traps that now are filled with dozens of drowned bees. I have just sent this message to the Kwik Trip Corporation.
As you surely know, honeybees are beneficial insects that not only produce honey but also pollinate plants and vegetables that feed us and those animals we depend on for meat. As you might also know from various media stories, there are many environmental threats that have led to a drastic decline in the honeybee population. We all must be doing something to stop this decline and this is the reason I am writing to you. I went to a local Kwik Trip tonight on Broadway and Baker in Winona MN and discovered that insect traps had been set out near the waste baskets at this Kwik Trip. In these traps were dozens of honeybees (I am a beekeeper, I can distinguish honeybees from other species of insects). While I do appreciate the fact that Kwik Trip was using a technique that doesn't spread pesticides, I still am concerned about the killing of a truly beneficial insect that, when away from its hive, is very unlikely to sting anyone. Is it possible that we might discover some other way to make your customers and employees feel protected without killing these insects?
2 comments:
Please remember that most people do not like "bugs", and that includes bees. Insects however are apparently sucked from habitat areas by light at night (LAN/LP) according to Professor Gerhard Eisenbeis. Without insects to eat higher order creatures will just starve. Without insects to provide pollination plant species will decline. You can read of the harm being done by the 24 hour day created by light at night in The Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, eds Rich and Longcore, Island Press, 2006. This book might really frighten you so take care when you read it.
The irony for me is that their actions were actually doing the opposite of what they wanted them to do. Placing a trap of sugar water out will only attract bees, not keep them away.
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