As If Bees Haven’t Been Through Enough, Millions Have Had To Be Killed ‘Cos Of A Nasty Mite

There’s big drama in the bee world thanks to a nasty infestation of Varroa destructor mites spreading throughout multiple bee communities in NSW. Haven’t the bees already been through enough?! In case you’ve not been keeping abreast or abuzz of the bee drama, varroa mites were detected in Newcastle last week. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the mites impact European honey bees’ flying, food gathering and how they’re born. It’s bad stuff. Queensland just announced it’d be shutting its borders to bees and hives ‘cos of the mites.

“Biosecurity Queensland is taking this action to protect the state’s bee industry from varroa mites which pose a serious risk to honey production and pollination services,” said Queensland’s Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries slash Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner on Thursday. Phew, that’s a bloody long job title. 

BBCover six million bees have already been euthanisedRoland Inmantold the ABC

“I’m not very happy at all and who would be?” Inman said.

“Who would be happy at the thought of anything up to $1,000,000 gone through no fault of your own?”

“Are we going to be issued with varroa mite strips so we can pre-emptively start managing for this, or at least doing damage control?”

Dugald Saundersalready-borked food productionIan McColl

“Bees are an integral part of our production system,” he explained. 

mouse plague

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