Wild bee populations face significant pressures from habitat loss, pesticides, and disease. Their welfare as potentially sentient invertebrates merits increasing consideration.
Research into bee cognition and sentience has advanced considerably, with evidence of rudimentary emotional states and learning capacities that challenge the assumption that insects lack morally relevant experiences. Neonicotinoid exposure causes disorientation and impaired foraging that may involve aversive experience. At the population level, habitat loss causes billions of bee deaths annually. Garden and farming practices that reduce pesticide exposure and increase flower availability address both population and individual welfare concerns.