Authorities take steps to ban bear bile farms
Source: Xinhua |
November 30, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
In a tranquil patch of woods in Chengdu, southwest China, 107 bears rest after a life of agony and incarceration.
The special cemetery of the Moon Bear Rescue Center, built by Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) in Sichuan Province, is for bears once farmed for their bile, which is said by some to have curative properties.
Three freed bears from a Shandong bear-bile farm were recently buried here after rehabilitation failed. Cancer and organ failure, a result of years of painful bile extraction, killed them, said Wang Fan, a carer at the center.
For over 3,000 years bears have been hunted in Asian countries for their gallbladders and the valuable bile within. In the 1980s, after hunting greatly reduced their numbers, countries like China and the Republic of Korea took steps to ban bear hunting. But wild bears are still caught and farmed for their bile.
In Chengdu, bear-bile powder can sell for as high as 4,000 yuan (US$600) a kilogram.
"Most people think bear bile can cure disease, but have no idea how it is extracted from living bears," said Toby Zhang, Animals Asia's Director of External Affairs.
In April this year, the local authorities in Shandong persuaded, offering some compensation, a farm to release its bears, most of which had been hopelessly ill and could not produce much bile. When the AAF rescuers arrived at the site, they found 10 sick bears, caged in squalid sheds.
As a measure to prevent them from struggling during the "milking" process, the bears were totally constrained within wire cages the size of their bodies.
A hole had been drilled in the bears' abdomens to allow a catheter to be inserted each day to extract the bile, an extremely painful practice that could last for hours at a time.
When the rescuers arrived, some bears had been in this living hell for over 10 years.
"The farmers had continued to drain bile from bears afflicted with cancers and injected antibiotics into their bodies to keep them alive," said Xiong Beirong, an official with Sichuan Provincial Forestry Department.
"I doubt that bile from these bears can be good for your health," said Xiong.
In 2000, government officials signed an agreement with the AAF on cooperation in bile bear rescues. Authorities have now agreed to issue no new licenses and to work towards ending bear farming in the remaining 13 provinces where such practices are still allowed.
The number of bear farms in China has dropped to 65 from 480 in the mid-1990s, said an AAF report.
"We have never been more hopeful of seeing the last bear farm close," said Jill Robinson, founder and CEO of the AAF.
The special cemetery of the Moon Bear Rescue Center, built by Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) in Sichuan Province, is for bears once farmed for their bile, which is said by some to have curative properties.
Three freed bears from a Shandong bear-bile farm were recently buried here after rehabilitation failed. Cancer and organ failure, a result of years of painful bile extraction, killed them, said Wang Fan, a carer at the center.
For over 3,000 years bears have been hunted in Asian countries for their gallbladders and the valuable bile within. In the 1980s, after hunting greatly reduced their numbers, countries like China and the Republic of Korea took steps to ban bear hunting. But wild bears are still caught and farmed for their bile.
In Chengdu, bear-bile powder can sell for as high as 4,000 yuan (US$600) a kilogram.
"Most people think bear bile can cure disease, but have no idea how it is extracted from living bears," said Toby Zhang, Animals Asia's Director of External Affairs.
In April this year, the local authorities in Shandong persuaded, offering some compensation, a farm to release its bears, most of which had been hopelessly ill and could not produce much bile. When the AAF rescuers arrived at the site, they found 10 sick bears, caged in squalid sheds.
As a measure to prevent them from struggling during the "milking" process, the bears were totally constrained within wire cages the size of their bodies.
A hole had been drilled in the bears' abdomens to allow a catheter to be inserted each day to extract the bile, an extremely painful practice that could last for hours at a time.
When the rescuers arrived, some bears had been in this living hell for over 10 years.
"The farmers had continued to drain bile from bears afflicted with cancers and injected antibiotics into their bodies to keep them alive," said Xiong Beirong, an official with Sichuan Provincial Forestry Department.
"I doubt that bile from these bears can be good for your health," said Xiong.
In 2000, government officials signed an agreement with the AAF on cooperation in bile bear rescues. Authorities have now agreed to issue no new licenses and to work towards ending bear farming in the remaining 13 provinces where such practices are still allowed.
The number of bear farms in China has dropped to 65 from 480 in the mid-1990s, said an AAF report.
"We have never been more hopeful of seeing the last bear farm close," said Jill Robinson, founder and CEO of the AAF.
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