Beekeeping Dog Helps Protect Bees from Extinction

This dog is trained to sniff out the most deadly, fastest spreading bee disease on the planet

This article is updated below, originally published in 2018.

More than half of bee species in America, and a third of bee species globally, are headed toward extinction.

Understanding bee extinction would essentially mean human extinction, people — and dogs — around the globe are taking action.

The European Union just banned neonicotinoid insecticides, and Bazz, a black labrador in Australia, is helping detect the most destructive bee disease on the planet called American foulbrood.

It’s important to detect American foulbrood early because there is no known cure and the bacteria associated with it spreads fast.  Infected colonies are quarantined immediately to keep the bacteria from spreading.

Unfortunately, it’s not easy to detect. The Paenibacillus-infected bee larvae are usually only visible under high-magnification microscope, and typically need to be sent to a lab for diagnosis, but thanks to Bazz, that’s not necessary.

He’s been trained to smell the infected larvae and his owner Josh Kennett has even fashioned him his own bee-suit to protect him from stings! Imagine if dogs across the globe could be trained to do his job!

You can listen to a radio interview with Josh Kennett here about his bees and dog.

UPDATE: After reading Dr. Tom Cowan’s book The Contagion Myth, the author of this article no longer believes in the germ-theory of disease. I believe Cowan that toxins are the cause of all disease and that when a particular bacteria is associated with a particular disease, they are only present to help clean up the toxin and are then blamed as the “cause,” while they were actually trying to help.

Likely this particular bacteria evolved to help bees process the insecticides (poisons) they are bombarded with in the modern world.