-
247 "farms"
Even though the alleged capacity of bear bile to cure various
ailments or as an aphrodisiac are strongly contested in scientific
quarters, superstition keeps demand high. As a result, thousands
of bears are captive on 247 "farms".
Violation of CITES
Despite being listed on appendix I of the Convention in International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Asiatic
black bears (moon bears) are captured in the wild, while trade
in bear bile and gall bladder products is developing outside China.
The Chinese government is requesting that the bears be moved to
appendix II, thereby legalizing this trade.
Mortality
The people that run these "farms" claim they contribute
to the preservation of wild bears. In reality, the mortality rate
is so high that more and more bears are being captured in China,
India, Russia and Canada.
Poachers
Poachers wait until the she-bear leaves the den in search of food
to capture new-born cubs. Sometimes the mother is killed. Many
cubs die as a result of this ordeal.
Brutal de-clawing
The surviving cubs are crammed together in enclosures to break
them into their future detention in cramped cages. So they can
approach the bears without fear of injury, the farmers often pull
out their claws and break their teeth. At the age of three the
bears undergo a surgical operation that will mutilate them for
life: the farmers insert a catheter into the bear's gall bladder
to milk the bile. The catheter is never removed, creating an open
wound that becomes permanently infected. Four out of five bears
die during or shortly after the operation to insert the catheter.
Stress
The bears show their distress and suffering by banging their head
against the bars or gnawing at their paws until they bleed, resulting
in further serious infection. Twice a day they are milked for
their bile, always during feeding when more bile is produced.
The bears moan and writhe in pain and clutch their stomach as
the bile is removed. One proof among many of the terrible conditions
in which the bears are kept is that some she-bears kill their
cubs at birth.
Amputations
Sometimes the bears try to pull out the catheter. Those that do
are immobilised in an iron corset. Milking and selling the bile
is not the farmers' only source of profit from the bears. Live
bears are amputated of one or two paws which the farmers then
sell to restaurants. When bears are no longer able to secrete
bile they are abandoned in a corner until death comes through
sickness or starvation. They are less than fifteen years old.
In the wild, they would have lived to twenty-five or thirty.
Action by One Voice
A report for the authorities
One Voice has commissioned a report on the condition of bears
in China, the role played by animal welfare charities there, and
the short- and long-term measures that must be taken to close
down all the bear farms. This report will be sent to Ministry
of Ecology in France and to the Chinese Embassy in France.
Pressure on the Chinese government
In 2008 the Olympic Games will be held in China. This is also
the deadline that One Voice and other international organisations
such as WSPA have set for an end to bear farms and trade in bear
bile. To close these 247 farms would have no impact on the economy
of such a vast country.
Rescues
The Chinese government accepted to release five hundred bears
and promised to reduce the number of bear farms. This apparent
good news hides a darker reality as China aims to industrialize
production, with thousands of bears concentrated on fewer farms.
In 1992 there were 601 farms with 6,632 bears; in 1998 there were
247 farms but with 7,002 bears. In 2002 some 5,200 bears were
held on just 27 farms. China's Ministry of Traditional Medicine
and other bodies support bear farms by promoting the development
of new markets. Dr Fan Zhiyong, the official CITES representative
in China, recently announced that China wished to begin exporting
bear bile.
The five hundred bears that the government agreed to release come
from small farms that are winding down their activity. Two sanctuaries
exist in China. The biggest is run by Animals Asia Foundation
(AAF). Seventy of the five hundred bears have found refuge there.
One Voice supports the work of AAF and its president Jill Robinson
as a means of informing the world of the suffering inflicted on
bears. As well as assisting AAF, One Voice and WSPA will pursue
their campaign to obtain a permanent ban on the bear bile trade.
|
