ISSUES

THE BEAR BILE INDUSTRY AND BEAR FARMING

Bear farming
Horrific and inhumane methods of bile extraction have been developed by the bear farming industry. All of them cause severe mental and physical trauma to the captive bears.

The history of bear bile extraction
Bear bile has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for over 3000 years. It is used to aid ailments ranging from fevers to heart disease.

In the 1980s the bear farming industry was set up to farm bears more intensively. Over 7000 bears were found being kept in Chinese bear farms; additional animals were held in Korea and Vietnam.
 
Originally, bear farming was introduced to reduce the number of bears poached from the wild. However, it is actually feared that bear farming is causing a decline in wild populations in China and across Asia, as the bear farming industry stimulates demand.

Welfare issues
Bears suffer when they are removed from their natural environment. They are often kept in cages that provide insufficient space to allow them to turn around, sit up or even lie down properly.

The extraction of bile is an extremely painful procedure, often carried out by untrained technicians. This causes immense and prolonged suffering to the bears.

Some bears are reported to curl up after the extraction, shivering and holding their paws to their stomach. There are numerous reports of bears twitching, gnashing their teeth, biting bars and uttering distress calls during the extraction process.

Methods of bile extraction
According to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), there are a number of methods used to extract bile from bears. They differ between each country (China, Korea, Vietnam) and even within each country.

China
Catheters: This technique involves the insertion of a stainless steel or latex catheter into the bear‘s gall bladder. Originally employed in the mid-1980s, when commercial bear farming in China started, this technique is still widely used despite it now being illegal.

The catheter is inserted through a hole, cut in the bear's abdomen, and attached to the gall bladder. The outer end is left to protrude from the bear's abdomen by several centimetres.

A variation of this technique involves the end of the catheter being fitted to a detachable plastic bag. The bag is held in place in front of the bear‘s abdomen by a permanent metal harness.

Fistulae or 'Free Dripping Technique': In 1993 the Chinese authorities began to promote the use of new surgical techniques for bile extraction and the abolition of iron corsets. A new catheter-free technique was to replace the old method.

The new technique was reportedly introduced because of high mortality rates associated with the old method. Today it is the only legal method of bile extraction in China. The older methods, however, are still commonly used in bear farms across the country.

The 'free dripping technique' involves the creation of a tissue duct between the gall bladder and the abdominal wall, using parts of the bear‘s inner body lining, known as the mesentery.

Bile is collected by inserting a rod through the fistula towards the gall bladder, which then drains its content. To prevent the fistula from closing up the wound must be constantly re-opened - usually once or twice a day.

It is suggested that this new technique is in some way more humane than older methods. However, this is far from the case, as we can see from the suffering involved for bears following surgery and years of bile extraction.

Recent Update: New reports from the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) suggest that farmers are now employing a 'fake' free dripping technique.

Here a clear plastic tube is inserted into the fistula, hidden just inside the body cavity. The tube is virtually invisible even on close inspection.

It is believed the plastic tube makes bile extraction easier and more efficient. Despite the process being illegal under current government regulations, it is believed to be common practice in many bear farms across China.

Vietnam
Hypodermic Syringe: The most common method of bile extraction in Vietnam involves the use of ultrasound equipment to locate the gall bladder.

Once located a long syringe is inserted into the bear's abdomen to puncture the gall bladder. The bile is then siphoned off into a collecting jar. Repeated puncturing of the gall bladder can lead to infection with many bears dying of peritonitis.

Surgery: In some cases, bears in Vietnam are subjected to crude surgery in which the gall bladder is accessed and bile extracted.

Unsanitary conditions and poorly trained staff cause painful, infected wounds, following surgery. According to bear farmers in Vietnam, bears rarely survive more than 3 or 4 such procedures.

Korea
In Korea the extraction of bile from live bears is illegal. Instead farmers breed bears and slaughter them in front of their customers to prove the authenticity of the gall bladders. Until recently the legal age at which a farmer could slaughter a bear in Korea was 24 years. As farmed bears rarely live to this age this effectively outlawed the killing of bears in Korea.
In February 2004, the government lowered the legal age of slaughter to 10 years, thereby opening up a much larger supply of bear bile and gall bladders in Korea.

WSPA is lobbying the Korean government to formulate a long-term, strategic plan to phase out bear farming.

Consequences of extraction methods and surgery
Unsanitary conditions, poorly trained staff and the presence of a permanent opening into the body cavity all lead to serious health problems in farmed bears.

Invaluable work carried out by Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) at its bear rescue centre in China has shown that farmed bears suffer from a wide range of illnesses as a result of their years in bear farms.

Formation of huge gall stones, the presence of foreign bodies in the gall bladder, severe inflammation and infection have all been observed by veterinary surgeons, with septicemia, peritonitis and abdominal hernia being common.

Alternatives to Bear Bile
Chinese medical practitioners acknowledge that bear farming is unnecessary.

There are at least 54 herbal alternatives to bear bile in its various medical applications, according to a joint study by EarthCare and the Chinese Association of Medicine and Philosophy (based in Hong Kong).

"We definitely do not have to use bear bile as it can be replaced by herbs, which are cheaper too," says Dr Sun Ji Xian from the Chinese Association of Preventative Medicine in Beijing .

WSPA has produced a report entitled “Finding Herbal Alternatives to Bear Bile” which provides a comprehensive list of individual herbs and herbal formulas that are known to have the same properties or effects as bear bile.

For more information about the bear bile trade and bear farming go to
Animals Asia Foundation
World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)

Support our efforts to end bear farming.

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Animals Asia's China Bear Rescue Campaign
The practice of bear bile farming in China was first discovered and subsequently exposed by Animals Asia's Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE, in 1993. Following her horrific discovery, Jill campaigned tirelessly within China, resolutely building relationships with the Traditional Medicine community and negotiating with government departments to bring an end to this cruel practice. The breakthrough came in July 2000 with the signing of a landmark agreement between Animals Asia, the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and Sichuan Forestry Department (SFD), which pledged to rescue 500 bears from the worst farms in Sichuan Province and work towards the final elimination of bear farming. Sanctioned by the Central Government in Beijing, this historic agreement was the first accord between the Chinese Government and any outside animal welfare organisation.

Since October 2000, dozens of bear farms have been closed and 219 bears have been released into the care of the Animals Asia team at their Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu, China. On arrival, the bears undergo extensive surgery to repair their damaged bodies and months of patient rehabilitation, integration and enrichment, before release into a semi-natural bamboo forest sanctuary, where they will live out their lives free from pain and fear.

Educational initiatives are central to the rescue and already see visits to the Rescue Centre for local school children and students, road shows, presentations, workshops throughout China and the creation of university support groups. Already, growing interest is now being seen in China itself, following extensive coverage from Chinese print and television journalists, whose stories are spreading across the country in support of rescuing the bears and closing the farms. As a result, the groundswell of encouragement from the general public within China continues to escalate and shows how supportive people are towards ending a shameful and unnecessary practice.

Animals Asia is also beginning the Vietnam Bear Rescue!
Bear farming was outlawed in Vietnam in 1992, although the practice was allowed to continue until consequently, the number of bears illicitly used for bile extraction rose from a few hundred to an estimated 4,000 bears today. Animals Asia has been investigating bear farming in Vietnam since 1998 and recently signed an agreement with the Hanoi Central Forestry Department to build a Rescue Centre for 200 bears in beautiful Tam Dao National Park.

Construction of the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in Tam Dao National Park is underway with the first phase scheduled to open in April 2007. The Rescue Centre will consist of a quarantine area, five double bear houses leading out onto large semi-natural enclosures, a small veterinary surgery and an education centre. Animals Asia is currently preparing to receive the first 50 bears and when completed the Rescue Centre will house a total of 200 bears.

To find out more about the Moon Bear Rescue in China and Vietnam please visit www.animalsasia.org