Especially the way individuals who loudly push for eradication quickly change their tune when the problem arrives on their doorstep. The initial response to varroa by the government of the day was to eradicate: hives were burned to the ground, livelihoods were destroyed. Then came the inevitable shift from a policy of eradication to active management of the problem. Whether M. bovis goes the same way remains to be seen, but this old mutt suggests with human nature being what it is, it’s likely there’ll be a notable silence among the eradication fans when their own livestock face destruction.
