Colony Collapse Disorder causes mass bee mortality and raises profound questions about insect welfare and the ecological consequences of losing these essential pollinators.
Whether honey bees can suffer in a morally relevant sense is genuinely contested, but converging evidence suggests they have some capacity for pain-like states and emotional responses. Varroa mite infestation causes physical damage - the mites feed on bee fat bodies and transmit viruses, impairing immune function and shortening lifespans. Pesticide sub-lethal effects impair cognition and navigation, causing bees to become lost and fail to return to their colony - a form of harm even if subjective suffering is uncertain. The scale of colony losses represents an enormous number of potentially sentient creatures dying prematurely due to human-managed chemical and land-use systems.