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Rusty patched bumble bee gets federal protection

Bees are important and directly relate to our food supply, and it is imperative that we protect them if they are struggling to exist by themselves. | Katie Santana/The Cougar

In January, the rusty patched bumble bee was slated to become the first bee to be placed on the endangered species list by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

President Donald Trump’s administration later placed a halt on the species’ status change as it went over federal regulations involving federal agencies and the federal register. Last week, it was approved to be an endangered species.

This specific bumble bee has been waiting to be placed on the endangered species list since the Obama administration tried to rush the bee’s status to go into effect on Feb. 10. However, when the administrations turned over, it fell under Trump’s far-reaching orders to halt all regulations from federal agencies for 60 days.

This order included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service — two departments that oversee endangered species requirements.

Many news articles are painting the situation to be as if Trump was out to keep bumble bees from being federally protected animals, but it was just a regulation that was filed at a poor time.

Meanwhile, the real threats to the bee are groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation that are contesting the bee’s new status on the grounds that it would place “far-reaching regulatory burdens” upon the agricultural industry. 

According to studies, the rusty patched bee population has dropped almost 90 percent in the last two decades. That alone is a pretty good reason to list it as a federally protected animal, yet there are lobbyists who would rather protect profits than the existence of a species that gives crops the ability to grow through pollination.

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While it was unfortunate that regulations that would put them on the endangered species list was in limbo for two months, Trump was not out to get the bees.

Regardless, bees are important and directly relate to our food supply, and it is imperative that we protect them if they are struggling to exist by themselves.

While it was unfortunate that regulations that would put them on the endangered species list was stuck in limbo for two months, Trump was not out to get the bees. That regulation got tied up just like all the rest that were filed in the first sixty days of his presidency.

Opinion editor Thomas Dwyer is a broadcast journalism sophomore and can be reached [email protected].

5 Comments

  • Bees can never be federally protected animals, they are insects. Way to prove your being educated at a Tier 1 school Mr. Dwyer.

    • I’m guessing you don’t think insects are animals. There are six biological kingdoms for classifying life. Insects aren’t plants, fungus, bacteria, protozoa, or archaea. That leaves animals.

      And BTW: there are already 60+ insects protected under the Endangered Species Act.

      So whatever school you went to, if you did go to one, you might want to ask for your money back because you obviously were taught bad information. Should have attended UH

    • And I hate the grammar police but since you’re speakly poorly about education at UH, it’s “you’re” not “your.”

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