-- "Peter L. Borst" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 I love bees and I wouldn't sit back and let them
die off, any more than I would keep my kids from going to see a doctor. 

...this is an important distinction.  as a society, we have decided that under most circumstances, virtually no expense is spared to "save" a human being.  we value humans as individuals, and the life of the individual is valuable.  this is, of course, at the expense of the gene pool.

personally, i might have died many times over from the frequent and severe ear infections i had as a kid if it had not been for antibiotics...now, i'm in a position to pass on my functionally deficient eustacian tubes to offspring.  the "gene pool" would be stronger and hardier without such artifical propping up of individuals with problems.  i'm not arguing against treating disease in humans, but i think it's important to see it for what it is.

in the case of bees, they have survived over 100million years by letting the susceptible die off, and the survivors breed.  even when a new (or recently imported) pathogen wipes out a noticiable percentage of the bee population, they keep coming back because the strong hives swarm and spread their genetics...while the weak die off.

now, i love my bees...but it's a differant kind of love than i feel for my "people" (which for some reason includes my dog).  in the short term, there is certainly advantages to "saving" a particular colony (or 1000) in production, pride, and pollination....but for the long term?  personally, i'd rather keep bees that don't require treatments from me in order to survive.  i don't know how that can happen unless those that can't are culled or left to die off on their own.  cruel?  i don't think so, this is how nature works.

the reasons for treating humans and domestic animals are completely differant (saving the idividual at any cost vs. saving short term production), and should not (imho) be equated.  

deknow

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