Dawn Tucker with her bees at a secret Vernon location.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - When Dawn Tucker agrees to meet up to explain her situation, she's careful about ensuring the location will be kept a strict secret. But Tucker doesn't have an illicit grow-op, illegal gambling den, or a distiller making a potent hooch — she has honeybees.

Tucker said she is one of dozens of rogue beekeepers currently operating illegally in Vernon and hoping their honeybees fly under the radar away from city officials. Keeping bees is currently outlawed in almost every area of Vernon and Tucker is spearheading a campaign to allow for backyard beekeeping throughout the city. The lifelong city resident presented to council at their July 23 meeting arguing the bylaw should be changed to allow for residents to keep bees. The idea was passed to city staff to look into the situation and present back to council with recommendations.

Tucker has been a backyard beekeeper since she took a two-day course at Okanagan College's Kelowna campus in 2013. She spent five years beekeeping and caring for her hives in her downtown backyard until May this year when city officials caught wind of her bees and Tucker was forced to relocate the hives. She now keeps the bees' new location confidential.

And the benefits to urban beekeeping go a lot further than just keeping the owner well stocked with honey.

"The reality is urban beekeeping is a wonderful asset to a city," she said. "[A bees] point is to pollinate, so they're actually helping us have more flowers, to have better gardens."

Tucker also points out that contrary to what people often think, honeybees rarely sting or swarm.

"They're very different than wasps."

Dawn Tucker with her bees at a secret Vernon location.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

Planet Bee Honey Farm owner Ed Nowek echoes Tucker's comments regarding bee stings. The commercial honey farmer, who runs a retail store with six (legal) hives in Vernon, said in 15 years of running his business he's only had two customers stung by bees. Nowek said he's "110 per cent" behind the idea to allow urban beekeeping in the city.

With anywhere between 30 to 50 thousand bees per hive, Tucker would be happy if a new city bylaw restricted backyard use to a maximum of six hives. She also points out good hive management is key to having happy urban bees. Actions such as locating a hive's entrance close to a hedge or fence which then directs a bee's flight path upwards when they leave the hive is a simple way to mitigate encounters with bees she said.

Currently, Kamloops and Vancouver along with several other B.C. cities allow urban bees.

Tucker is hopeful council will change the current bylaw, which she said only came into place in 2006 following concerns with a commercial keeper who kept hundreds of hives. Tucker is urging Vernon residents to write to the city to support the change so she and the dozens of other rogue beekeepers can come out of the shadows.

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