How Can Veterinarians Gain the Trust of Beekeepers?

Just because veterinarians aren’t fully trusted by the beekeeper community, doesn’t mean they won’t be one day soon, says Terry Ryan Kane, DVM, MS, founder of A2 Bee Vet.

“Veterinarians are not trusted yet by the larger bee community, with good cause. We don't know that much about bees yet. Those of us who've been beekeepers for a while, we're working to help educate our peers on beekeeping and such. Veterinary medicine has been through this before. When I was in vet school in the 80s the University of Pennsylvania had just started aqua vet, and at that time US Fish and Wildlife Service and fisheries was saying well why do we need veterinarians, and you don't know anything about fish. Well we didn't, but we're quick studies, and we learned pretty quick and now it's routine to have veterinarians involved in aquaculture, and freshwater fish saltwater fish, marine mammals, all of that. And someday, as we educate ourselves and educate beekeepers to our herd health knowledge base, veterinarians will be routine in bee medicine, and bee culture as well. It just takes time."