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In a world of flexitarians and pescatarians, ba-curious vegetarians (who consume bacon but no other kinds of meat), and all the other not-quite-committed vegetarians who have yet to come up with labels for themselves, it’s not surprising that some vegans are looking for ways to loosen up their avoidance of animal products. In a recent story for Slate, Daniel Engber suggests that some lax vegans might be willing to consume honey, on the grounds that bees might not mind sharing it with humans. But staunch vegans argue that beekeeping is cruel and exploitative (though incredibly delicious). Here’s why:
Queens are imprisoned in certain parts of the hive, while colonies are split to increase production and sprinkled with prophylactic antibiotics. In the meantime, keepers control the animals by pumping their hives full of smoke, which masks the scent of their alarm pheromones and keeps them from defending their honey stores.
Granted, this doesn’t seem too cruel compared to the factory farming of noninsects, but some animal rights activists support all creatures equally. Still, even the most serious vegans are eating foods produced by commercial bees—the article goes on to list an assortment of fruits and vegetables that are pollinated by these arguably enslaved insects.
As a full time professional beekeeper I am appalled at the massive misinformation that this site:
http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm
has spread though out the internet. While some references on that site are accurate, clearly the author was not a beekeeper and does not have a CLUE about how the honeybees life cycle works etc.
That site has been around for a long time and is frequently...+READ
As a full time professional beekeeper I am appalled at the massive misinformation that this site:
http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm
has spread though out the internet. While some references on that site are accurate, clearly the author was not a beekeeper and does not have a CLUE about how the honeybees life cycle works etc.
That site has been around for a long time and is frequently referenced. Its my personal goal to post a counter point site someday to rip that site's claims apart one by one. Its really a shame as people have taken that site as fact when in reality its mostly bogus information that fit someone's twisted agenda.
To just pick apart the quoted sentence above.
Queens are free to roam in a hive or the hive would die. No queen laying eggs no hive. Period.
Yes hives are split in spring before they build up too quickly and split on their own. We like to keep our bees around and some hives perish through the winter. So making a split actually is one way to increase the number of hives. So what's the point above? I don't know,
As with all farming Know Your Farmer. We don't use antibiotics preventatively and many beekeepers do not either. Of course if you are sick you might choose to take a prescribed antibiotic. That is also a choice for a sick bee hive. The alternative recommended treatment is to destroy the hive to prevent wild and managed hives from getting foulbrood. So what would a vegan do? destroy the hive? let other bees get sick?
Sometimes smoke is used to keep from getting stung. I don't know how one would "Pump" a hive full of smoke. A blatant attempt to demonize beekeepers . We use Sisal twine thats expensive but burns slow and issues a cool smoke thats non-toxic. There is no evidence that light smoking of a hive is harmful to the bees. Smoke as is natural as grass and wood, in the days before white man roamed North America wild fires routinely burned across the prairies.
The bottom line is ethical beekeepers and there are many of them care about their bees. They never removed the honey from the hive's nest as the bees need that for their food. A successful beekeeper attempts to help the hive make SURPLUS honey which the ethical beekeeper can then harvest for consumption.
I'll refrain from judging vegan's perhaps they can refrain from judging beekeeping which my guess most of them know little to nothing about.
My advice if you are vegan...talk to a beekeeper instead of believing something you read on the internet written by someone who obviously knows nothing about bees.-COLLAPSE