Recent reports from the WSPA prove conclusively that bear farming is still an ongoing trade in China. The bears are generally locked in a cage no bigger than a telephone box, then have daily incisions into their abdomen to remove the bile from the gall bladder. The bile is then used in medicines as a treatment for chronic stomach disease and other related ailments, particularly gall stones.

Even though it has been medically proven that there are far more practical alternatives to bear bile, there are still approximately 13,000 bears currently being farmed in Asia. Over the last 2 years the WSPA have managed to secure verbal agreements with both Vietnam and Korea to phase out bear farming, and hope that China will follow suit.

The WSPA are currently in direct discussion with high ranking officials in the Chinese government and lobbying companies to halt this unnecessary practice. Whilst mobilising support within the Chinese communities of the United States, the UK and Australia, the WSPA will demonstrate to China that practical alternatives to bear bile exist.

With the bile extraction procedure being extremely painful and traumatizing for the bear, the sooner this cruel ‘farming’ is halted the better. With Vietnam and Korea leading the way, surely China must realise that this barbaric method of cruelty done for the sake of producing medicinal goods should be consigned to the history books.

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