Scottish Government Rebuff Black Bee Nature Reserve
by Neil on Apr.02, 2010, under Articles, Beekeeping News
Doesn't Alex care about bees?
The Scottish Government has rebuffed a reserve for Black bees on Colonsay. The reserve was brain child of Andrew Abraham, Andrew spent years trying to secure the reserve on Colonsay only to have it Squashed by the Scottish Government early this year.
Scotland on Sunday published an article where the Scottish Government said; “the black bee is considered a domesticated creature”. This was the reason they said no to the black bee reserve! The Countryside and Wildlife act 1981 can only be used to protect and secure reserves for wild animals, as it has be used before for Red Deer on the Isles of Rum, Jura and Arran.
I find this completely insane! How can black bees be considered a domestic creature, there must be 1000’s of wild hives of black bees in Scotland!! And of course going by this idiotic thinking the Scottish Government has failed to take pro-active measures in helping our native black bee!
I urge all who disagree with the Scottish Parliments decision to write a letter of complaint and send to:
Alex Salmond MSP,
First Minister,
Scottish Parliment,
St Andrews House,
Regent Road,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3DG
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April 4th, 2010 on 8:21 am
There are no ‘domesticated’ bees alive anywhere in the world. Please, before making decisions like this, ask a bee-keeper. The British native black bee is an ecologically important part of the worlds bee population and is no more domesticated than the capercaillie or the ptarmigan. You can of course cage them but if you leave the door open, as you must if you want honey, they will go and not return if the whim takes them. There are ways to discourage this but not always effective. Please help the bee…. please help the native black bee.
Regards, Keith Hallam
April 5th, 2010 on 5:46 am
Quite right Keith.
I thought Id look up the proper absolute meaning of “domesticate” and here it is:
to tame (an animal), esp. by generations of breeding, to live in close association with human beings as a pet or work animal and usually creating a dependency so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.
1. Bees are never tame and can be dangerous.
2. Bees have not lost the ability to live in the wild.
The has been generations of breeding but it has not made them tame. Bees do live in close association with humans but I think do not fall under the umbrella of “Pet” or indeed “Work” animal. Its a bit of a grey area, but the Scottish Government has made a ruling based on this? Complete rubbish!