Is honey not vegan?!

Is honey not vegan?

My uncle kept honey bees when I was a kid. They were never harmed or treated cruelly when he harvested the honey. So I, as a vegan, never saw a problem eating honey.

But recently my sister brought it up and we had an argument over honey being vegan-friendly.

Do most vegans not eat honey? What's cruel about making honey if the bees are wild and free like any other bees, with the exception of some of their honeycomb being harvested?

I don't mean to upset anyone, I just wanted to know some facts and opinions. Thank you!

I seriously just found this out. Honey isn't vegan because of the way it's harvested. I will type out exactly what I found on-line, okay here we go...

From a former beekeeper: "Typically, beekeepers are gloved and netted to avoid stings (nearly every bee who stings will die due to her entrails being pulled from her body attached to her stinger.) Then the hives are opened as quickly as possible and the bee's are 'smoked'. Some from a smoldering fire carried in a 'smoker' is pumped into the hive and the bees are 'calmed'. In spite of this, the combs are pulled quickly and many bees are crushed in the process. When a bee is hurt, she releases a chemical message that alerts and activates the hive members who proceed to attack the intruder--giving their lives in the process."

One of my friends found this for me on the Internet. If you are wanting to become a vegan or a vegetarian and you want to know what you can eat and what you can't you should go to petakids.com. There is a lot of information that you might like to read...it'll make you never want to eat certain foods again.

Good luck friend! I haven't talked to you in forever!