# Umm, bees are missing? Should we not be concerned? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655 "2007-03-05T08:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/41 "2007-03-06T17:48:39Z")
I’m an ecologist, and while I’ve known for most of my life that we’re losing the battle, news like this just makes me sad. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/42 "2007-03-06T17:54:23Z")
I get your point, **scot** , but this is a perfect scare-mongering story - it’s hard to understand why it didn’t get massive coverage. This under-reporting seems almost as ominous to me as the missing bees themselves. (I’m never sure if I’m _too_ paranoid or not paranoid _enough_.) [The CBC Canada story about missing New Brunswick bees from 2001 - they suspect a new pesticide.](http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2001/06/15/nb_jdbee0100615.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/43 "2007-03-06T18:08:15Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Weird. Was the word “Croatoan” inscribed in a nearby tree, perchance? [/QUOTE] We’d never know. Bee writing is in very teeny-tiny letters. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/44 "2007-03-06T22:17:40Z")
(duplicated material deleted) ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/45 "2007-03-07T03:23:07Z")
damn. well, perhaps we’ll learn to eat new things… lots of plants were around before bees were. hope they’re not all poisonous. :[ ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/46 "2007-03-07T10:35:07Z")
[QUOTE=nevermore] damn. well, perhaps we’ll learn to eat new things… lots of plants were around before bees were. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but a lot of the plants we have now have co-evolved with bees. Luckily, not just your frou-frou Western Honeybees, either. So, where shall I ship these hives of African honeybees to? Michigan? ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/47 "2007-03-07T14:24:13Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] So, where shall I ship these hives of African honeybees to? Michigan? [/QUOTE] THAT explains it! Our local news gets such mileage out of annual “Africanized Killer Bee” scares, they’d probably never report an actual bee decline. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/48 "2007-03-07T15:36:22Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray] We’d never know. Bee writing is in very teeny-tiny letters. [/QUOTE] They don’t use handwriting anyway. They send B-mail. God, I am so sorry. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655/49 "2007-03-07T16:06:11Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] They don’t use handwriting anyway. They send B-mail. God, I am so sorry. [/QUOTE] _frowns_ You will be. _Looks up Burlington, Ontario on the map_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umm-bees-are-missing-should-we-not-be-concerned/394655.md?page=2)