Colony collapse disorder and chronic bee health decline raise questions about the welfare of managed honeybee colonies and their wild counterparts.
The welfare of social insects like bees occupies a debated space in animal welfare science, but the scale of suffering associated with colony losses is significant by any measure. Varroa mites cause physical damage and viral transmission that progressively weakens colonies. Pesticide exposure impairs navigation, learning, and immune function. The evidence for some form of experience in bees is growing, suggesting that colony-level suffering involves individual-level welfare costs that we are only beginning to understand.