500words

 By Jeanie In their Save our Bees Campaign, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) state that, as a result of disease, pesticides and climate change, the honeybee population has been nearly decimated (some truth in that) “but since the demand for the bees’ honey and other produces remains high, these tiny animals are raised by industries, much like chickens, pigs and cows are”.   This, I think, is nonsense.   As a rule beekeepers are deeply concerned with the welfare of their charges and go to great lengths to keep their colonies healthy.   They do not kill off the hives after stealing all the honey!    Why on earth would they? If they did the bees would die and dead bees are not the beekeepers’ objective.   Bees adapt to the loss of honey and good beekeepers make sure to leave adequate honey in the hive for the survival of the colony.    In a disingenuous piece aimed at children with the title “Bees used for honey aren’t treate...

  HONEY HUNTERS Images of people collecting honey from wild bees date to 10,000 years ago.   At some point humans began to keep colonies of wild bees in artificial hives made from hollow logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels and straw baskets.   Traces of beeswax have been found in potsherds throughout the Middle East beginning about 7,000 BCE.   The basic idea throughout the ages and in different cultures has been to give the bees a place to live, let them make their honey and then take it away from them. An 8,000 year old cave painting from Cuevas de la Arana, Bicorp near Valencia, Spain  Despite the commercialisation of beekeeping all over world, there are still some remote communities, mostly in Asia, where indigenous peoples continue to collect wild honey from remote places. The Gurung peoples of Nepal have been collecting honey from cliffs in the foothills of the Himalayas for generations.  They use rope ladders and long poles called "tangos", in deat...