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The Bear Bile Trade
INTRODUCTION“How does a bear, that has spent 22 years confined in a tiny wire cage and is tortured twice daily through bile extraction from a tube in his stomach, come to put such total trust in the same species that caused him pain?” asks Jill Robinson MBE, Founder of Animals Asia Foundation who as a Consultant to the International Fund for Animal Welfare discovered a ‘bear farm’ in China where Asiatic black Bears were tightly confined within tiny wire cages so that their bile could be ‘milked’ for traditional medicine. In a major breakthrough in July 2000, Animals Asia signed an historic Agreement with the authorities in Beijing and Sichuan to free 500 suffering endangered Moon Bears from the worst farms in China. Most importantly, the agreement pledges to work towards the end of bear farming once and for all. BACKGROUNDThe Asiatic black bear (Ursus Selenarctos Thibetanus) is one of the 8 bear species in the world and is listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) as Appendix I – the most critical category of endangerment. No-one knows how many of these animals remain in the wild, but the rampant demand for their body parts and loss of habitat causes their numbers to dwindle catastrophically. One of the most significant impacts on their population is the demand for their gall bladders and bile juice which is used in traditional Oriental medicine Asia wide and in Asian communities throughout the world.
In the early 1980's, North Korea began taking bears as cubs from the wild, caging them, and surgically implanting them with catheters, so that bile could be extracted on a regular basis whilst keeping the animal alive. A few years later, Chinese scientists adopted the same procedure as it was considered that the practice would satisfy the local demand - whilst reducing the number of animals taken from the wild. However, by the early 1990's, there were nearly five hundred bear farms in operation, holding more than 10,000 bears. A THOUSAND MILES STARTS WITH ONE STEPIn 1994, following worldwide exposure of the practice and intensive negotiations from within China itself, an announcement was made by the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), Jill Robinson and IFAW, the Chinese Association of Medicine and Philosophy and EarthCare which called for the future elimination of bear farming. Although this was an agreement between non-government groups, this initiative was to set the scene for helping the bears in the years to come. True to their word, in 1995 the Chinese authorities closed down the worst farm which Jill had previously visited and gave IFAW custody of the bears who had been exposed to such terrible suffering. Since December 1996, 7 bears have lived a free, enriched and happy life in a semi natural sanctuary funded by IFAW and managed by Jill and the team of Animals Asia.
Reaching out for help THE BREAKTHROUGHHong Kong, July 2000, the Animals Asia Foundation with officials from the China Wildlife Conservation Association in Beijing and the Sichuan Forestry Department announced a landmark Agreement which would free 500 endangered “Moon” bears from a lifetime of captivity and suffering on bear farms in China. The agreement announced three major goals:
The Agreement also declared that the groups were united in supporting the manufacture and use of non-endangered herbal and synthetic substitutes to bear bile and, together, would encourage current and potential consumers to refuse the use of any product containing bear bile. Animals Asia also agreed to pay a level of compensation to the farmers in an effort to ensure that none of the farmed bears were slaughtered for their parts and to help impoverished farmers move into alternative areas of employment. The Sichuan government agreed to pass the original bear farm licenses to Animals Asia and a country wide policy in China now ensures that no new bear farm licenses are being issued. FROM FARMS TO FREEDOMOn 13th October 2000, the farms began to close and the bears began arriving at the temporary rescue centre in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Animals Asia was advised to expect over 60 bears during the following weeks. The first three bears to arrive on the truck were immediately named and ‘Gail’ (named after the Animals Asia Vet - Dr. Gail Cochrane), ‘Andrew’ and ‘Melody’ became the first ambassadors of the China Bear Rescue. ‘Andrew’ a probable victim of a leg hold trap and missing a limb, ‘Andrew’ was also a young healthy male who showed the team from the second he arrived how forgiving and intelligent this species could be. Whilst ‘Gail’ and ‘Melody’ growled and ‘woofed’ constant warnings, Andrew lay on his back and playfully tugged at the stray pieces of metal protruding from his cage. Upon further observation of all three bears, Gail noted that both ‘Andrew’ and ‘Melody’ had metal catheter implants protruding from their abdomens, whilst bear ‘Gail’ had the older style latex catheter - which exited under the skin in her thigh - and teeth which had been deliberately cut back by a farmer who had taken away her defences to make her easier to milk.
Confined 24/7, month after
month, year after year Over the next few weeks, as more bears arrived, the team of Animals Asia
could only watch in horror as truck after truck offloaded animals whose physical and mental
condition defied belief. The crude insertion of the catheters into their gall bladders meant
that the bleeding and seeping wounds in their stomachs could never heal. The tightness of
the cage around their bodies had caused injuries
and scars up to four feet long. The lack of exercise had caused their foot pads to dry
and painfully crack; their claws couldn’t be worn down and had grown out of control;
puncturing the delicate tissue of the pads. Their mental condition was just as tragic - many
had broken and worn down teeth, or vicious wounds on their heads from where they had bitten the
cage bars or banged their heads against the metal in a frenzied attempt to stimulate their
intelligent and active minds. Many were violently stereotypic; spending their waking
hours rocking back and forth in a pathetic attempt to relieve their boredom and pain. Ranging
in age from cubs to middle and old aged, the bears were brought into the safety of the rescue
centre and given fruit and jam and tender loving care for the first time in their lives. No material on this website may be copied or published elsewhere without permission. (c) Ooze Online 2001 - 2005 |
Catheters
used to extract the bile 
Bowl
of bile juice
