Pollinator Protection Week

Despite being a safety hazard, bees, bats, butterflies and beetles are valuable members of the ecosystem. These pollinators play an essential role in the nation’s food supply as we rely on them to help pollinate crops and other plants.

There is a week in June designated to the protection of these pests. 2014 celebrates the seventh Pollinator Protection Week, which was on from the 16th of June to the 22nd of June.

Pollinator Protection Week, which first started in the United States, has now grown to be an international celebration. It stresses the importance of the pollinators and addresses the urgent issue of the declining populations of these insects.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT POLLINATORS:
– Stinging insects (which include bees, wasps, yellowjackets and hornets) are responsible for an estimated 500,000 people at the hospital each year.
– Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants rely on animal pollinators to reproduce.
– Honey bees are the most well known pollinators, however, butterflies, birds, beetles, moths and other animals are also pollinators.
– It is estimated that at least one of every three bites of food is touched by a pollinator.