Bear Farming

In countries across Asia (such as Korea, China and Vietnam), thousands of bears live a life of torture on bear farms, so that their bile can be extracted and used in Traditional Medicine to cure ailments ranging from headaches to haemorrhoids.
Bears are confined in cages so small that the animals cannot stand erect or turn around, all of which cause terrible physical and mental suffering.
But their torment does not end there.....the bears are subjected to painful methods of bile extraction which involve crude surgery to implant a steel catheter into the abdomen or the creation of a permanent hole in the abdomen known as the "free-dripping" technique.
Many bears die as a result of the unsanitary surgery and those that survive spend the rest of their lives suffering in pain and deprivation.
Whilst the methods of farming bears for their bile vary across Asia and are continually 'evolving', ALL of them are incredibly cruel and totally unacceptable.
(source: AnimalsAsia)





More insights and details on this issue to be found in the following online articles:

AAF - Bear Bile Farming
AAF - "Traditional Medicine"
AAF - Campaign
WSPA - Bear Farming
WSPA - Methods of Bile Extraction
Bear Farming and Trade in China and Taiwan
IFAW - Asiatic Black Bear (or Moon Bear)
IFAW - Saving Moon Bears
HSUS - Bear Parts Trade
EJF - Wildlife trade in Vietnam
Save Bears Now (Myspace page)
Free the Bears









Petitions:

- IFAW
- Save the Moon Bears
- Stop Bear Farming and Bile Extraction
- Ban Chinese Bile Farms







Concerning bears welfare, there are also other topics that need to be brought on the surface:

- Japanese Bear Parks
- Bear Baiting
- Dancing Bears
- Sanctuaries
- Spare the Bears