WSPA efforts to fight bear bile trade

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http://www.wildlifeextra.com/bear-detection354.html

 

WSPA launches 'Bear Detection' kit to detect bear bile in Asian medicine

About bear farming:

 

- To extract bile, a surgical operation is carried out to create a

tube leading into the bear's gall bladder to allow the bile to be extracted

- approximately 100 ml of bile can be extracted per day. Those that survive

the conditions suffer from infections to the open wounds, tumours, internal

abscesses, gallstones, and other related illnesses. in Korea bears are

raised to a certain age and then slaughtered for their body parts. The WSPA

is working with the Vietnamese government to phase out bear farming.

 

WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) is helping tackle the

ugly world of illegal wildlife trading.

WSPA is working to highlight the suffering of bears on bear farms using

innovative and ground-breaking tactics. Earlier this year, WSPA launched

bear protein detection kits in partnership with Wildlife DNA Services, a

specialist wildlife forensics organisation. The kits are currently being

trialled by customs and wildlife officers in Australia and Canada and are

designed to be very easy to use, working similarly to home pregnancy testing

kits.

Chris Gee, WSPA Bear Farming Programme Manager said: 'WSPA investigations

continue to confirm on a global level, that many bear bile products

originate from China's bear farms. Not only does bear farming give rise to

illegal trade, but it is cruel, unnecessary and must end. WSPA is delighted

that Animal Planet is calling attention to this.'

 

*UK Trials*

UK trials have been successful – the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit

has completed a trial of the new kits and is keen to use WSPA's new bear

protein detection kits to aid their crackdown on the illegal traditional

Asian medicine trade in the capital.

 

Andy Fisher <http://www.wildlifeextra.com/andy-fisher.html>, Head of the

Wildlife Crime Unit at the Metropolitan Police said: 'WSPA gave us a number

of test kits which we tried out on products that we had seized in recent

raids on shops in London. We found bear bile present in a number of the

medicines we had previously seized. I think we will find it really useful to

have these kits with us on future raids, they will help us to do instant

tests on suspicious items which we can then do further analysis on later.'

*12,000 Bears on Bear Farms*

Official figures show that there are at least 12,000 bears kept in bear

farms throughout Asia, but

WSPA<http://www.wildlifeextra.com/wspa-charity.html>believes it could

be many more. The suffering of bears on bear farms is

unmatched in terms of the acute suffering and the length of time the bears

are forced to endure it.

 

*Bile Extraction*

Most bears in bear farms are kept in cages measuring around 1 metre wide, 1

metre high and 2 metres long – about the size of a telephone booth - where

they cannot easily stand or turn around. If they do not die during the

initial operation (to insert a bile extraction tube), they can live for up

to 20 years suffering through the painful bile extraction process – done

twice a day, every day.

 

Courtesy of the WSPA <http://www.wildlifeextra.com/wspa-charity.html>