Summary: During this past week in Summerville, California, Flowertown Bee Farm and Supply lost 46 beehives(over 3 million bees) to the aerial spraying for the Zika virus. Their equipment was contaminated and were only left with just empty boxes. The Zika aerial spray was providing safety from the virus, but what made it so disastrous was the number of people that were uninformed about when the spray would take place. Juanita Stanley, a beekeeper, was one of the many people who didn’t know that the aerial spray would take place that morning. Because of this inconvenience, she never got to protect the hives. The pesticide naled, meant to kill off mosquitoes with the Zika virus, is what killed all these honey bees. Stanley said that she was devastated about the loss of her bees, but what was important to her was “raising bees and selling them to other people, and spreading the honey girls out there into the world. Now, I can't help anyone anymore, because all of them are dead."
Analysis: Today the Zika virus is a major issue across the U.S., and here in Summerville, SC they’ve already lost three people to the virus. Of course no one intended for the honeybees to get harmed during the process of the aerial spray, but because of the millions of bees killed, people started to take notice that even they could’ve been affected by this. The article really emphasizes how miscommunication can affect a lot of people, and in this scenario we lost a very important contributor to our environment. Honeybees job in pollinating allows plants and crops to grow, providing a source of food for humans and animals. Over a short period of time when animals don’t get the food they need and crops die off, we will struggle to get the food we need to survive. With the majority of the county unaware, no one could inform the beekeeper’s about the aerial spray. In U.S. history, there are many situations where miscommunication led to a saddening result. One example would be General Joann Rall in the 1776 Battle of Trenton. General Rall was leading his group of Hessians to attack the American forces, but one night Rall received a letter from a spy saying that the Americans were coming in from the north. Afraid to look like a fool for not being able to read English, he put the letter in his pocket and never read it. This lead to the defeat of the Hessians and an American victory.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/health/zika-spraying-honeybees/index.html
This is a very interesting article. I can not believe that three people have died already! I think that you are extremely correct when you compared this miscommunication to the defeat of the Hessians. Hopefully, there will not be anymore miscommunication throughout this battle.
ReplyDeleteThe miscommunication that led to all of these bees dying is so unfortunate. I understand that it is important to spray the pesticide because it can save peoples lives that could have gotten Zika, but it is completely ridiculous that three million bees were killed in the process!
ReplyDeleteThe miscommunication that led to all of these bees dying is so unfortunate. I understand that it is important to spray the pesticide because it can save peoples lives that could have gotten Zika, but it is completely ridiculous that three million bees were killed in the process!
ReplyDeleteThis is really sad that all the bees died! It's definitely a lesson about miscommunication, because three million bees is a crazy amount of death and that's very sad! However, I completely understand the need to spray for the Zika virus considering three people have died! That's terrible and I really hope that this can be fixed with the pesticide in the future (but without miscommunication).
ReplyDeleteSAVE THE BEES. I personally keep bees and I would be soooooooo upset if the government spraying for Zika caused my colony to collapse. I understand the need to prevent Zika, but bees are more important. They pollinate 1/3 of the Earth's food at least, so we would starve if bees went extinct. Furthermore, bees already have enough problems from unexplained CCD to GMO crops affecting them. There are other ways to prevent Zika that wont affect bees.
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely unfortunate event that, unfortunately, has happened a countless number of times throughout history. Poor communication can be one of the most deadly mistakes to make. Hopefully we will be able to eradicate Zika before it spirals out of control or mutates and the government will be more vocal about the spraying schedule.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that miscommunication caused this horrible event. Although we need bees, we also have to take a step in pregnant mothers' shoes that are around Zika virus. I am hoping that they can find other ways to prevent Zika virus that will not kill the bees. I'm praying for a quick removal of Zika virus and healthy home for bees!
ReplyDelete-Ava Noble