Dee Lusby wrote:
> Keith Benson writes:
> Harmony with nature is not a guarantee against disease.
> After all - all of those disease inducing organisms are
> part of nature.
>
> Reply:
> Yes they are, but not on a rampage and out of proportion to
> what they actually should be!
snip
> Yes, man sure has done a lot to get things out of balance,
> we are now trying to put back into before it's too late by
> creation of preserves and safe environments.

Actually, there are diseases that run through an animal population and
decimate it with no input from people. Rabies in the NE US is classic in
decimating the raccoon population.

> In the natural environment foul is 1-2 %, with man's
> version of honeybees look what we got instead. . . .much
> more, plus out of control pests, predators, and diseases
> not even associated with the natural, for they are only
> found in man's artificially created environment of which
> for over a century bigger is better has been the way to
> go!!! Better for who?

There are statistics and then there are statistics. When a feral colony
is killed off by foul, wax moths take on the responsibility of "burning"
equipment by cleaning out the feral hive. If there were no wax moths
then AFB in nature would be much higher. So we are talking about a
difference of 2% between nature and managed hives, and that difference
could be more mismanagement than management.

The truth is, most animals managed by people are healthier and live
longer than in "nature". We tend to romanticise the realm of tooth and
claw since we do not live in it or have to live by its rules.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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