Ed Nowek has been a beekeeper since 1969.
Recently, he became alarmed after noticing a spike in deaths of his bee population. He has sent a sample of bees to the Ministry of Agriculture for tests to determine what virus is affecting and killing his colonies. Results are expected soon but Nowek said he suspects itsa国际传媒檚 Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus.
IAPV is a widespread RNA virus of honey bees that has been linked with colony losses. The mysterious outbreak of dying honey bees sparked interests of U.S. scientists in 2007. What is now known as Colony Collapse Disorder attracted massive media attention and created widespread concern about honey bees.
sa国际传媒淐olony Collapse Disorder was discovered about ten years ago in the U.S. and wesa国际传媒檝e been seeing this more and more in Canada too,sa国际传媒� said Nowek. sa国际传媒淥ur bees are just becoming more and more susceptible to some of these illnesses that didnsa国际传媒檛 use to affect them before.sa国际传媒�
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When Nowek started Planet Bee in 1997 in Armstrong, he says his goal was to educate the public on the importance of bees. Today, he owns and operates Planet Bee in Vernon. He said this dream has become a reality.
sa国际传媒淲e now have an educational program that we run here in the summer and we try to teach people about bees,sa国际传媒� he added.
He said the vast increase of the interest of bees since the discovery of Colony Collapse Disorder has been a good opportunity to educate people on the dying bees.
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sa国际传媒淓xperts say that at least a third of the food in grocery stores wouldnsa国际传媒檛 be there if it wasnsa国际传媒檛 for bees pollinating those plants and flowers,sa国际传媒� said Nowek. sa国际传媒淲ith growing populations around the planet, we need to find ways for producing food to feed these people and bees are an integral part of it.sa国际传媒�
Nowek expects to receive the report from the Ministry of Agriculture within the next couple weeks. Updates to come.
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