I remember having a product referred to as ‘bear-bile powder’ applied on my mouth ulcer when i was little. The traditional chinese medicine shopkeeper in our area recommended it to my mum. Many years later, I am now aware of what this powder is and the origins of it.
Traditional products have been used for centuries and some people wonder where the problem lies with continued usage of these products. I have and will always support the preserving and maintaining of traditions to the extent that the practice is meaningful and doesn’t cause unneccesary harm. However, we are now in the 21st century. Many items are available today to replace traditional products that are sourced in horrific, inhumane ways. Our ancestors didn’t have many choices in their days but we do now.
In bear bile farming, the bears are caged, most of them since they are still a cub. The cages are so tiny for them that their growth is stunted. They live a miserable and ‘unmovable’ life until their last breath.
Vietnam and China may be the main bear-bile farming operators. But the other main perpetrator is us, the consumers. When there is demand, there will be supply. And remember that you are paying for others to cause pain to the bears. The is really no need for bear-bile products. Plenty of far more effective products are available on the shelves.
The old bile-extraction method, referred to as the ‘iron jacket’
The new bile extraction method
Shocking New Techniques
Adult bears are dying slowly from bile extraction, whilst cubs too immature to produce adequate quantities of bile are slaughtered for their whole gall bladders and paws. Animals Asia investigators have revealed two methods of bile extraction in Vietnam. In the first, bears undergo major abdominal surgery to remove bile from their gall bladders every three months. The surgery is crude and unhygienic and, according to the Vietnam government, the bears usually suffer 4 such operations before dying from the infection and pain. Another method entails the extraction of bile with the assistance of an ultrasound machine, catheter and medicinal pump. The bears are drugged, restrained with ropes and have their abdomens repeatedly jabbed with four inch needles until the gall bladder is found. One operator was even witnessed licking the needle between numerous insertions in an attempt to locate the bile. The process often leads to dangerous leakage of bile into the body and a slow and agonizing death from peritonitis. In all cases, the bears are incarcerated in tiny cages, the physical and mental suffering that they endure is extreme – and the mortality rate is high.
March 2008
One emaciated bear brought to the AAFs rescue centre in Chengdu was dead on arrival, his body still warm. One died of prior injuries and nine more have been euthanised. Each was riddled with chronic, liver cancer, as well as a litany of other agonising ailments. All were in impossibly small cages, all skeletal, wounded in various ways, and terrified of what would happen in this next stage of their lives. Some are blind, some have shattered teeth and grotesquely ulcerated gums, some have shocking necrotic wounds their flesh literally rotting down to the bone. Most arrived with open wounds in their abdomens from the free-drip method of bile extraction, with some leaking bile, blood and pus. The number of bears in such an atrocious condition was unprecedented. This latest rescue brings to 247 the total number of bears Animals Asia has saved from lives of torture on bile farms in China.
In July 2000, AAF signed a landmark agreement with the Chinese authorities to rescue 500 bears in Sichuan province, to work towards the elimination of bear farming in China and to promote the herbal alternatives to bear bile. The farmers are compensated financially so they can either retire or set up in another business. Their licences are taken away permanently. But many farmers claim that a new catheter-free, free-drip method of bile extraction involving the creation of a permanent hole in the abdomen is painless for the bears and that the industry, therefore, is now “humane”. The latest batch of tormented, disfigured bears provides further proof that the trade is as brutal as ever.
Consumers in China, Japan and Korea have the highest demand for bear bile. Bear parts, bile powder and bile products are also found in Australia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the US and Canada. It is illegal for bear products to be exported from China, but the black market trade is thriving. The bile is used in traditional medicine for a range of complaints including fever, liver disease and sore eyes. Synthetic and herbal alternatives are readily available.
The images and info above are sourced from here and here
