ENN-Rescue center offers hope for China's bile bears

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http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/12/12182002/reu_49200.asp

 

Rescue center offers hope for China's bile bears

 

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

By Anil Ekmecic, Reuters

 

LONGQIAO, China & #12539;When rescuers whisked away 17

Moon Bears from lucrative Chinese bile farms this week

to a new refuge facility in their native southwest,

some had wounds weeping bile and pus and needed

life-saving surgery.

 

Three with inoperable tumors were put to sleep by the

Moon Bear Rescue Center in Sichuan, ending lives spent

in tiny cages with surgically implanted catheters

milking bile from their gall bladders.

 

" Their condition was beyond belief, " animal activist

Jill Robinson told reporters visiting the center.

" They have appalling physical and mental problems. "

 

The Asiatic black bears, called Moon Bears for the

golden crescent of fur ringing their chests, are

captured in the wild or bred in farms for green bile

used in traditional Chinese medicine. It hurts so much

when bile is extracted that some animals gnaw at their

own flesh to relieve their pain.

 

More than 80 bears, rescued with the help of local

officials since the center began operating in 2000,

are now housed in the refuge built by the Hong

Kong & #30566;egistered Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) at

Longqiao in the suburbs of the Sichuan capital

Chengdu. Robinson founded and now heads it.

 

After months of recovery, bears can be seen roaming

around a grass enclosure, playing with toys designed

to spark instinctive behavior suppressed in bile

farms.

 

Bear bile farms began spreading in Asia in the 1980s

after development of the new method of tapping bile

with catheters. Chinese farmers, which had killed

bears for their gall bladders for thousands of years,

adopted the practice because bears produced more bile

alive than dead.

 

The Chinese authorities, which at first endorsed bear

farms as a way of protecting bear populations in the

wild, have now begun to crack down on them but has yet

to ban them.

 

The Asiatic black bear is recognised by the U.N.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as an

endangered species.

 

The Longqiao center opened after an agreement in 2000

between the AAF, the Sichuan forestry department, and

the state-endorsed China Wildlife Conservation

Association (CWCA) to rescue 500 bears from farms and

work towards ending bear farming for good.

 

Despite small steps taken to save some of the bears,

much work lay ahead, said Robinson. " There are

thousands and thousands of bears still remaining on

farms in China, still suffering, still dying as we

speak. But at least the first steps have been made.

The Chinese government is recognizing there is a

fundamental problem now with bear farming in this

country, " she said.

 

SLOW PROGRESS

 

Bear bile farms have proliferated across China, where

people consume thousands of kilograms of the bitter

liquid every year to treat ailments such as soaring

temperatures and liver problems, rather than take

herbal or synthetic substitutes.

 

Sichuan authorities have closed down 35 of the farms

and issued no new licences since 1994, the AAF said in

a statement.

 

Asked if the government backed bile farming, CWCA

Secretary General Chen Runshen said, " Although bear

farming is still legal, the central government does

not approve of any bear farms where bears lead

inhumane existences or are in bad living conditions. "

 

CITES specifically bans international trade in the

Asiatic black bear, and Chen said the Chinese

government disapproved of the export of moon bear

bile, although the substance has been found in

shampoo, medicinal tonics, and wine sold

internationally.

 

Chen said that the number of bear farms in China had

fallen in recent years, while the number of bears

milked for their bile had not increased. He gave no

figures.

 

Copyright 2002, Reuters

 

 

 

 

 

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