Honeybees dying, situation ‘unheard of’

If losses continue, they could threaten the viability of the bee pollination industry, US Department of Agriculture says.

Washington: Just last year, it seemed there was something to celebrate despite planet Earth’s ongoing honeybee apocalypse: Bee colony losses were down. Not by enough, but they were down.

“It’s better news than it could have been,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp​, a University of Maryland entomology professor who led a survey of bee populations that reported a loss of 23 per cent of bee colonies – less than 30 per cent, the average from 2005 to 2013. “It’s not good news.”