Bear Bile Farming - Millie Annabeth

Bears are known as mammals with non retractable claws. short tail, and an animal with an excellent sense of smell. Upon all that this mammal is a victim of bear bile farming, bear bile farming is a cruel farming system designed to extract bile from the gallbladders of living bears for use in traditional Chinese medicine. In the past bear bile would be obtained by hunting bears in the wild and killing them to remove their gallbladder which is a rare and prized ingredient at that time, used for specific medical conditions. Today more than 12.000 bears are believed to be kept on bear bile farms, both sun bears and moon bears are threatened species that are often used in this practice.

These farmed bears are permanently kept in cages, sometimes so small that they are unable to turn around, some bears are even caged as cubs and never released. Most farmed bears are starved and dehydrated, making them suffer from multiple diseases that ultimately kill them. To have their bile it is known that bile farmers would use the method called free drip method which is an undergo surgery to create a permanent open passage from their gallbladder through their abdomen. The surgery is crude, unhygienic and rarely performed by a veterinarian. This results in many of the bears dying from infections or other complications, and agony for those who do survive.

How you can help :

• Raising awareness of alternatives to bear bile, including herbal and synthetic products

• Working with local organizations to urge governments to live up to their international commitments to protect bears and other wild animals.

• Seeking laws, policies, monitoring and enforcement to ensure that captive bears are given space to move, provided with richer environments and are protected from all forms of bile extraction and exploitation.

• Donate to organizations to support them to stop bear bile farming