CHINA:At special farms throughout China, over 7,000 bears eke out their lives in tiny cages. Every day their gall bladders are painfully "milked" for bile, which is used in 123 different kinds of traditional Asian medicines.
The bile is extracted through steel tubes inserted in the body, and often the bears die from illnesses and infections from their open wounds. Their meat is also important for traditional medicine and their paws are sometimes cut off when still alive
As part of its campaign to end bear farming, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has published a report, Cage to Consumer, which highlights illegal trade in bear products in eight countries.
The animal rights group discovered illegal products containing bear bile were on sale in traditional Asian medicine shops in the US, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Most of the bear parts for sale originated in China.
"These results are shocking and . . . show that bear farms are giving rise to illegal trade as well as being inherently cruel," said Peter Davies, director general of WSPA. "In light of this evidence we urge the Chinese government to reconsider its position on bear farming and instigate a phase-out of the bear farming industry in China," said Mr Davies.
Many traditional Chinese medicine practitioners say there is no need to use bear bile, and are happy to use artificial substitutes in treatments - bear bile is believed particularly good for liver disorders - but there remains a black market in illegally traded bear bile in Asia.
Farming of captive bears is permitted under Chinese law, but it is banned in South Korea and Japan, where bear bile powder is also prized.
Most of the bears on the farms are Asiatic Black bears, which along with the American Black, Brown, Polar, Sloth, Sun, Spectacled and Panda bear are all listed as endangered, and protected, by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of fauna and flora (Cites).
It's not just the farms that are a problem - wild bears continue to be poached for their gall in China. The populations of most bear species in China are declining. The WSPA released its report yesterday at the 14th Cites conference in Holland.
The WSPA has also launched a bear detection kit, which aims to help stamp out the illegal trade in bear products by identifying bear bile in products.