Honey bees and wild bees are declining globally from pesticide exposure, habitat loss, and disease. Their welfare and their essential ecological role as pollinators make their protection a pressing priority.
Bee welfare encompasses both the welfare of individual bees and the systemic threats to pollinator communities. Sublethal pesticide exposure causes bees to be disoriented, unable to return to their hive, and impaired in their ability to learn — welfare harms that also reduce their ecological effectiveness. Varroa mites cause physical harm and immune suppression in honey bee colonies, reducing individual bee lifespan and colony health. The evidence for bee emotional states from Cambridge research — showing that bees in simulated attacks exhibit behaviors consistent with pessimistic emotional bias — raises genuine welfare considerations for a group of animals rarely considered in welfare discussions.