Bile bear

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A bile bear in Huizhou Farm, Vietnam. This bear has since been rescued and lives in a sanctuary in South China. The photograph was taken by the Asian Animal Protection Network. Bears

A bile bear or battery bear is the term used for Asiatic black bears kept in captivity in Vietnam and China so that bile may be extracted from them for sale as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The bears are also known as moon bears because of the cream-colored crescent moon shape on their chests. ^[1]The bears that are most common for milking are the black bears, which are listed as an endangered species. Bile is a chemical that is produced naturally in the liver and stored in the gall bladder.

[edit] Living conditions

The bears live in cages little bigger than themselves for ease of "milking." Bile is extracted through a cut made in the bear's abdomen and into the gall bladder, where bile is stored after being secreted by the liver via the hepatic duct. A tube is inserted into this opening to tap the bile, or a steel stick is forced into the gall bladder with the bile then running down it into a basin. Between 10 and 20 ml of bile is tapped from each bear twice daily. The WSPA reports that, during milking, investigators saw bears moaning, banging their heads against their cages, and chewing their own paws. The mortality rate is between 50 and 60 per cent. ^[2] When the bears stop producing bile after a few years, they are moved to another cage, where they are either left to starve to death, or are killed for their paws and gall bladders. Bear paws are considered a delicacy.

[edit] Numbers

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There are estimated to be around 4,000 bile bears in Vietnam, where their bile can sell for 100,000 dong (~ US$6.25) a millilitre (with 37,500 dong a week regarded as the poverty line for an urban resident), and around 9,000 bile bears in China. The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) conducted a study in 1999 and 2000, and estimates that there are 247 bile-bear farms in China, holding 7,002 bears, [1] though the Chinese government has called the figures "pure speculation." [2]

In July 2000, Animals Asia Foundation, a Hong-Kong based charity set up by Jill Robinson, working in partnership with the Chinese authorities, signed an agreement with the Chinese government to rescue 500 suffering and endangered Moon Bears from the worst bile farms in Sichuan province, and work towards ending the practice. Today, the China Bear Rescue has seen freedom for 205 previously farmed Moon Bears at a Sanctuary in Chengdu, and is helping to advance the concept of animal welfare in China.

[edit] Bile trade

The monetary value of the bile comes from the traditional prescription of bear bile by doctors practising traditional Chinese medicine. Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which is believed to reduce fever, protect the liver, improve eyesight, break down gallstones, and act as an anti-inflammatory. The high demand for the bile has led to the introduction of intensive farming of bears. Because only minute amounts are used in traditional Chinese medicine, a total of 500 kg of bear bile is used by practitioners every year, but according to WSPA more than 7,000 kg is being produced, most of it being used in wines, eyedrops, and general tonics.

In January 2006, the Chinese State Council Information Office held a press conference in Beijing, during which the government said that it was enforcing a "Technical Code of Practice for Raising Black Bears," which "requires hygienic, painless practice for gall extraction and make strict regulations on the techniques and conditions for nursing, exercise and propagation." [3]

[edit] References

• "Torment of the moon bears" by Pat Sinclair, The Guardian, October 11, 2005, retrieved October 18, 2005
• Chinese government attends official opening of Animals Asia's Moon bear rescue centre ..." Animals Asia Foundation press release, December 2002, retrieved October 18, 2005
• "The Trade in Bear Bile", World Society for the Protection of Animals, 2000, retrieved October 18, 2005
• Press Conference on Animal Welfare, Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland, January 12, 2006

[edit] Further reading

• McLaughlin, Kathleen E. "Freeing China's Caged Bile Bears", San Francisco Chronicle, April 25, 2005
• "Bear Farming - an introduction into the animal welfare issues" The Word Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
• Animals Asia Foundation