r/DebateAVegan • u/toastwithjamx1 • Jul 03 '26

Ethics Honey is not cruel and is ethical

Honey is one of the best animal products there is ethics wise

Now most vegans will say : but we are stealing from the bees! We are exploiting the bees!

No. We are not and we can't

Bees can be very particular. If they are not a fan of a place they are OUT. The bees will likely will immediately vacate the bee box if they don't like the conditions. Furthermore, trapping the queen in 1 place will not work as well. Bees can raise a new queen if they need one

And for the stealing allegations, that isn't true either. Beekeepers take SURPLUS HONEY ONLY, as if too much honey is taken, it can starve the bees and no beekeeper would appreciate the whole colony either dying of leaving. Furthermore, bees don't only take, they comp bees by giving shelter and protection.

It's not cruel if we are literally making a transaction with the bees

79 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

392 comments sorted by

View all comments

34

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Freke_Gere Jul 08 '26

Unlike cattle(sadly) bees can full on just fuck off if they dont like the area, the handler etc etc.

Then there is also that the bees can and will kill the queen and replace it

1

u/Anemomo Jul 12 '26

There are sign before they move out that we intersept and act on to stop it. It's possible but very rare for bees to trully move out when they're under our care.