A commenter is somewhat surprised I eat honey. Well, agave nectar is an alternative but the products from Whole Foods (the dominant product) are full of mercury (no really). And maple syrup endangers a whole bunch of trees (unless perhaps you live in Canada...). Bees are for sure sentient but I'm not eating them. And I think it's fairly clear that cows have by far the worst of it in comparison. In America at least, bees are at risk and (some) bee keepers are among the only human people taking care of them.
And agave nectar is basically cunningly marketed high fructose corn syrup (with attendant chemical strippers, hence the mercury). Check it out.