China closes hundreds of bear farms: government - The China Post

[Guest guest]

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/2007/12/05/133603/China-closes.htm<http://www.\

chinapost.com.tw/china/2007/12/05/133603/China-closes.htm>

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

AFP

 

 

BEIJING -- China has closed more than 400 bear breeding farms as it steps up

efforts to protect animal rights, the government said Tuesday. The number of

bear breeding farms, which typically raise the animals to collect their bile for

medicine, has decreased to 68 from more than 480 in the 1990s, said Zhu Lieke,

vice minister of the State Forestry Administration.

New surgical technologies have been adopted to reduce the pain felt by the bears

during the process of extracting the bile, replacing such traditional practices

as confining the bear in a small iron cage or iron jacket, he said.