Just the end of a world. A creature that worked like the dickens because that's just what it did to fit into the natural world, being replaced by legions of slave bees worked virtually to death by professional bee keepers, trucked all night to new fields every day, unrelated to the natural rhythms of its life, killed off by the millions just to be replaced by another factory produced batch.

Hmmm, ask not for whom the bee bell toils......

It toils for thee.

Ask not for whom the bee toils.

It toils for thee.

My theory is that just its Mexican bees swarming into this country and replacing all the US bees because they're willing to pollinate flowers for much cheaper.

It's a little sketchy that I can do that now. But in this case, it seemed warranted.

dood: You around the 3rd of August? I will be coming in to Chicago then. Maybe catch a beer?

Oh and the bees? Chinese bees work for less wages and no bennies which is why they are imported here aboard containers. Did you notice the small, straw horn hats?

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Good grief, let me get this straight, if a butterfly goes to flight, it will affect the weather in the other side of the earth, have I got this straight?

Actually, it was refreshing to read some factual news, factual reporting without having to put up with the shreeking of environmentalists prediction of gloom and doom, global warming, cell phone usage yada..yada, etc.

zippy

I'm inclined to drone on and on about such things.

The European bee is the one that makes the honey that is standard in the stores, is NOT native to North American, and may very well "bee" running into difficulty due to a climatic imbalance that was there from the beginning. If they are about to check out from Europe that is another matter of concern, but their tenacity in NA was always in question. Likewise it would be astonishing if hummingbirds could be even so much as partially introduced to parts of Europe (so far this experiment has always failed). There are really no horrid or scandalous surprises here. And as any beekeeper would tell you, bees used in industrial honey production work no less and no harder than their wild transplanted relatives. The idea they are being used in some degrading Oliver Twist "dickens" tale is asinine. Bees are clever, but they don't cogitate such things nor do they take consideration of the whip and lash and disincentives nor incentives.

Spare us.

you want to catch a buzz, with the dood.

Guess what? The European bees are "checking out" from Europe, too. It's time to be concerned.

Let's start a Cult of Hive keepers -- repopulate the universe feed them on Honey wine -- keep hives out to help the poor people.
 the Pionty hive hats would be all the rage. WaX products , Royal jelly , Honey Soap, honey oat and Almond Ganola bars 
 
        OOOOH   we will have bees so will have vegatables and fruit --- What should we Call THEM ???????

The idea that we can call the disappearance of a species anything BUT a tragedy because we can engineer a "replacement" is such an irresponsible one... I can hardly wrap my mind around it. This kind of attitude towards the natural world, if anything, will be what brings about the end of things for us. Especially when it is in regards to a species that we owe a great amount of loyalty to, that has represented so much to humanity since our earliest days.

And by the way, who wants overseas honey? Eating local honey helps to boost ones immune system by exposing one to local allergens and pollens.