Beekeepers need to get out more

In a campaign to highlight the plight of the honeybee in North America, Ann Harman put some of the blame of the decline in honeybee numbers on beekeepers:

“Beekeepers think bees are so ‘cute’, ” Harman said derisively of her colleagues.

“Well, the public doesn't think they're so cute,” she went on. “Beekeepers are old stick-in-the-muds. They need to get out more.”
The Washington Post

Amongst the problems familiar to beekeepers everywhere, mid-Atlantic states of the US face a bear problem. Virginia beekeepers have failed in their lobbying for the right to shoot bears that destroy their hives, but a vaguely worded bill ordering state government to help beekeepers was passed and another dealing with compensation was continued until next year.

Following a lobby by Maryland beekeepers ten years ago, the state now pays for an electric fence for beekeepers who can prove they suffered a bear attack.