What is bear farming?
(Much of the following is based on
information provided by Animals Asia Foundation.)
Bear farming is a brutal form of animal abuse. There is
nothing natural or humane about it.
To
harvest the bile from the gallbladder a connection must be made from
the
gallbladder, which is deep inside the body, to the surface. This
connection (medically called fistula) is made in one of three
ways: a metal tube is inserted, a plastic tube is inserted, or a tissue
bridge (a leak, in essence) is created between the gallbladder and the
skin.
The operation to make these connection is performed by mostly
untrained and unskilled individuals, in ways that are not up to modern
veterinary standards. After the bile fistula is established, the animal must be
confined in a cage, often hardly bigger than their body, in an effort to
keep the fistula open and control the animal.
This lasts the entire life of the animal.
To obtain bile from the fistula some animals wear a “metal
jacket” around
their bodies with a collection container attached. Others bears are
forced to lay on the floor of their small "crush cage" so the bile will
drip downward. A bear is a powerful healer; its body will try to
exclude a metal or plastic tube (just like our bodies try and force out
a splinter) or close the tissue bridge. This leads to scarring and
damage to both the outside and inside of the bear. In some, hot pieces
of
metal are inserted to keep the hole open. This is done without any
form of anesthesia or sedation. In essence, the life of a farmed
bear is hell. It is pain, agony,
confinement. Physical and mental
torture. A life of fear. These bears often go “crazy” from their
confinement and suffer from a variety of disfiguring injuries related to lack
of movement and the operations they undergo.
Some other things about these bears. Many die during or
soon after the fistula operation. Most are malnourished and small.
Many are missing a limb, the result of the wire snare used to trap them
from the wild. They do not have continuous access to water. Many are
hairless. They often have their teeth and claws removed to make them
easier to handle. These bears have a high rate of liver
cancers, the result of chronic infection and
inflammation of the gall bladder and liver.
There is no bear farming in the United States. It is confined to China,
Korea and Vietnam, though
fortunately the last is phasing out its bear farms. It is now estimated that there are at least 7,000 bears in Asian bear farms. We
believe that no reasonable individual can rationalize bear farming. You don’t need to be an animal activist or advocate to oppose it. Bear farming causes incredible suffering, for no
reason, to harvest a substance that is now completely unnecessary.
Bear farm conditions update, April 2008: In early April, twenty-eight bears were released from Chinese bear farms into the care of Animals Asia. The condition of these animals is shocking; they have been subjected to a level of abuse and neglect that can only be called criminal. As of this writing, eleven of the twenty-eight bears are already dead. These bears represent the end-point of bear farming. To learn more about these unfortunate creatures, visit the Animals Asia site and read Jill Robinson's blog. It is heartbreaking. The treatment of these animals can only be viewed as criminal.
To see Video, search You Tube under "bear bile." Still images can be found on Google or any other search engine. Below are two particularly compelling links that we urge you to view. They are hard to forget.
Bears have a large brain compared to their size; they are one of
the more intelligent mammals. Bears exhibit a high degree of curiosity and exploratory behaviors, and possess excellent long-term memory.
Bears have a large brain compared to their size; they are one of
the more intelligent mammals. Bears exhibit a high degree of curiosity and exploratory behaviors, and possess excellent long-term memory.