Bear Bile Farming

Bear bile farming has been considered the worst epidemic of animal cruelty in this century, spreading across Asia with growing speed. An estimated 9000 bears live out their lives in tiny cages all across China and other surrounding countries, kept in farms where they will die from malnutrition, infection, depression or insanity. These bears, commonly Asiatic Black bears, live in the following conditions:
(I have taken quotes from certain sites; use the link provided to view the full article/page)


Conditions in a Bile Farm

[link] - Lots of detail on this problem
[link]

Sources who have visited Chinese bear farms report that the bears are kept for years in “crush cages,” [cages only a few inches wider that the bears] many of them rusted shut. Catheters are crudely inserted through their abdominal walls into their gall bladders, and bile is collected twice a day. The cages and collection procedures lack any sanitation, and the bears suffer from injuries, peritonitis, worms and other parasites. The bears’ muscles atrophy from lack of movement. Bears rescued from such farms can neither stand nor move about on all fours without physical therapy and improved diet to restore health. The bears’ diet at the bile farms consists of grain mash or porridge…. they generally live only about four years.
- U.S Embassy – China
[link]

Bear begins to chew its own limbs in an attempt to free itself from the pain…. Tragic life in a cage so small the bear cannot stand up or turn around. Injuries develop to the head, paws and back from the repeated rubbing on the cage bars
- [link] (contains photographs)

I have seen a documentary on Discovery Channel that dealt with these poor bears. An organization rescued bears from closed farms and brought them to a large rehabilitation facility in the mountains of China, where there were courtyards with trees and grass. The bears they rescued had never seen grass. They had never seen a tree. They had never felt rain or eaten fruit. And those bears, which had been captured from the wild in order to provide bile, were missing limbs from the traps.

These bears had massive infections in their abdominal walls from the catheter, and ulcers and oozing in the swollen exposed tissue. Once the veterinarians were able to operate and remove both the catheter and the infection, the bears were allowed to leave the cages and walk, for the first time, into the outdoors. They saw other free bears for the first time, and discovered their natural diet of fruit and leaves. These bears were allowed to live out the remainder of their lives in a peaceful place, rolling in grass and hay, and climbing these with other bears.

Can you blame me for wanting the same for other unfortunate animals in this condition?


What I’m Doing to Help

I have been working since I saw that eye-opening documentary in November to help the cause for bear freedom. I didn’t even know this problem existed! And I am an animal freak! I have informed my school animal welfare club and they have participated with me in bake sales, carwashes, and other fundraising activities to donate to organizations that help liberate these bears.

Although we have sent hundreds of dollars towards China, I still feel we need more. That is why I am informing you of this. It would be fantastic if each and every one of you could spread the word about this horror. If each person could raise a couple hundred dollars, then another bear would get a life-saving operation, another farm can close down, and another bear can feel grass for the first time.

I am thinking of making a t-shirt design, one that will hopefully be cute enough so people will buy them, while still remaining true to the cause. I would love to offer them for sale at any fundraisers I organize, or even have them available for sale online if anyone is interested (they will come in all sizes, including the smallest small they have, for those of us who hate that all shirts are big) If anyone has any input, any ideas, or even any design concepts they want to tell me, feel absolutely free to do so.


Here are some links to some organizations that you can donate to:

AnimalAsia - [link]
WSPA - [link]

Those are just two, there are so many more.

I hope you feel as passionate as I do about this.
~ Olimpia