Press release -- Animals Asia

[Guest guest]

*Media Release*

 

*26 August 2008*

 

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*Pathologist says bear bile farming unhealthy for humans and bears alike*

 

A Vietnamese pathologist has expressed grave concerns for the health of

both humans and bears after conducting clinical examinations of the

damaged gall bladders of three moon bears rescued from bile farms by

Animals Asia Foundation.

 

Dr Dang van Duong, Chief Pathologist at the Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi

said he was shocked by the condition of the bears and urged consumers to

think twice before taking the bile from such diseased animals; the bile

is a popular ingredient in traditional Asian medicine.

 

Dr Duong made the comments after conducting histo-pathological

examinations of the gall bladder specimens of the three bears that

recently underwent cholecystectomies (removal of the gall bladder) at

Animals Asia’s new Moon Bear Rescue Centre at Tam Dao near Hanoi. He

found a substantial thickening of the wall of the gall bladder, a

consequence of the bile extraction process.

 

Animals Asia’s veterinary team has performed the operation on over 200

bears at its first Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Sichuan Province, China,

but this was the first time gall bladders had been removed from farmed

bears in Vietnam.

 

“We were not sure what we were going to find when we did the exploratory

surgery,” Animals Asia resident veterinary surgeon Dr Jen O’Dwyer said.

“In China, all the rescued bears need to have their gall bladders

removed because of the severe damage from the bile extraction process,

but in Vietnam a different extraction technique is used, so it was all

new to us and we did not know how badly the bears’ health had been

compromised. Sadly, we now have definite proof that the Vietnam bears

also suffer horrific health consequences from being farmed for their bile.”

 

Bears on farms in China, where bear farming is still legal, are

subjected to the so-called “humane” free-dripping method of bile

extraction on a daily basis. A permanent hole is cut into the bear’s

abdomen through to its gall bladder. To extract the bile, the farmer

pokes a tube into the hole and lets the bile drip out. Some farms still

use permanently implanted catheters to drain the bile – a method that is

now against China’s regulations.

 

In Vietnam, bile is extracted with the assistance of an ultrasound

machine, catheter and medicinal pump. The bears are drugged – usually

with ketamine – restrained with ropes and have their abdomens repeatedly

jabbed with four-inch needles until the gall bladder is found. The bile

is then removed with a catheter and pump.

 

After examining the gall bladder of one of the bears, named Mama, and

concluding that she has “severe chronic cholecystitis”, Dr Duong said:

“I am wondering how this bear could have survived, because if this was a

human sample, the person would have been dead long ago.” Mama arrived at

the centre in August 2007; she was missing her right forepaw from being

trapped in the wild. The other bears to undergo cholecystectomies –

Moggy and Miracle – had similarly degenerative gall bladders.

 

Bear bile farming is technically illegal in Vietnam though the practice

is still widespread. Animals Asia’s Vietnam Director, Tuan Bendixsen,

said it was helpful finally to have definitive proof that bears were

still being milked for their bile. “Bear bile extraction has been

illegal for

 

more than 16 years since the Decree 18/HDBT dated 17/1/1992 banned the

exploitation of endangered wildlife (all Group I species). And in 2004,

the Prime Minister’s Office issued the legal letter 2822/VPCP-NN dated

07/06/2004, which specifically banned bile extraction from bears.” Mr

Bendixsen said the three bears that have been in for surgery to date

were all quite young – Mama and Moggy are 5-6 years old and Miracle is

8-9 years old. “Thus the extractions would have been made illegally,” he

said.

 

Mr Bendixsen said that while it was common knowledge that bile

extraction was still taking pace, a lack of resources and

decentralisation of authority meant there was no real enforcement on the

farms. He said Dr Duong’s pathology reports would be handed over to the

Forest Protection Department. The report on “Mama” states in part:

 

“Notably, the epithelial cells of mucosal layer are completely

degenerative and have become ‘ghost cells’. The sub-mucosal layer is

edematous [excessive accumulation of fluid] and infiltrated with some

inflammatory cells and associated with the presence of many

neo-capillaries. The connective tissue of all other layers are

degenerative and associated with the presence of fibrotic tissue.”

 

Animals Asia Founder and CEO Jill Robinson said it was time for serious

action to counter the farmers’ duplicity and to stop them flouting the

country’s laws. “I hope now that the agreement we signed with the

Vietnamese Government in 2006 will be implemented, and we will soon see

bears confiscated from the farms and handed over to our new sanctuary

near Hanoi,” Ms Robinson said. In a positive development during a recent

meeting this month with the Government, officials promised to confiscate

at least 50 bears and place them into the care of Animals Asia by

October 2008. Around 4,000 bears remain trapped on bile farms in Vietnam.

 

Ms Robinson said Animals Asia would continue to collect evidence of

illegal bile extraction in Vietnam. “Just a few months ago in Quang

Ninh, we filmed an unconscious bear in a cage, with empty ketamine

bottles (a banned drug in Vietnam), four-inch spinal needles, nooses and

restraints and bile juice on swabs nearby. Two busloads of Korean

tourists were seen fleeing from the farm.”

 

Ms Robinson said this latest evidence from Vietnam added weight to

Animals Asia’s stance that there was simply no humane way to farm a bear

for its bile. “This is exactly the sort of evidence we have been

collecting in China for years – the bears are subjected to unimaginable

torture and their health is severely compromised as a result.” She said

contamination from unsterile needles or bile leakage from constant

puncturing of the gall bladder was common. “This can lead to infection

or peritonitis. In addition, we see thickening and inflammation of the

gall bladder – again through interference such as stabbing and

irritation. “I hate to think what the bile taken from these bears is

doing to the health of humans who take it.”

 

Dr Duong is collaborating with the Dean of Sydney University's medical

faculty in establishing online pathology between Sydney University/Royal

North Shore Hospital in Sydney and Bach Mai Hospital. His pathology

department provides pathology consultancy services to the French

International Hospital in Hanoi and is a recognised reference laboratory.

 

*Background – Moon Bear Rescue, Vietnam*

 

 

While bear farming has been illegal in Vietnam since 1992, the practice

is still widespread and around 4,000 bears remain trapped on bile farms.

 

Animals Asia has been negotiating with the Vietnamese Government on the

issue since 1999. In 2005, after years of lobbying by the foundation, as

well as other international and local

NGOs, the authorities promised to act to phase out bear bile farming and

in 2006, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the government to rescue

200 bears.

 

 

Our Vietnam Moon Bear Rescue Centre, nestled in a beautiful valley in

the buffer zone of the stunning Tam Dao National Park, 70km north of

Hanoi, will eventually be home to 200 “ambassador” bears that have

suffered for years at the hands of bile farmers.

 

Phase one of the sanctuary, which includes a quarantine block and

surgical facilities, can hold up to 100 bears in dens and large cages.

Phase two, which is still being completed, includes dens, semi-natural

outside enclosures and rehabilitation areas for our special-care bears.

The rescue centre will eventually be the focus of our campaign to end

bear farming, with an education centre, herb garden, visitor viewing

area and staff accommodation. But our first priority will always be the

health and well-being of our rescued bears.

 

The Government has promised to confiscate at least 50 bears and place

them into the care of Animals Asia before October 2008. Since there has

yet to be any extensive veterinary examination of farmed moon bears in

Vietnam, it is impossible to estimate the extent of their injuries.

 

What we do know is that nearly all the rescued bears will be missing a

limb, because all were snared in the wild in barbaric leg-hold traps. We

know that most of the bears’ gall bladders –­ badly damaged from the

years of torture on bile farms – will have to be surgically removed. We

also fear that some bears will have peritonitis because of the primitive

method of bile removal that has seen them prodded repeatedly in the

abdomen with unsanitary needles before the extraction.

 

To date, Animals Asia has rescued 17 moon bears in Vietnam. The mental

torture suffered by these bears is unimaginable. But we are confident

that with the help of our dedicated veterinary team, they will pull

through and come to know the joys of freedom ­ just like the bears that

have been rescued and brought to our China sanctuary.

 

--

Angela Leary

Media Manager

Animals Asia Foundation

2/F, Room 04-05,

Nam Wo Hong Building

148 Wing Lok Street,

Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2791 2225

http://www.animalsasia.org/