Fw: (CA) Bear Suffering for Hemorrhoid Creams?

[Guest guest]

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, December 5th, 2000

 

Bears Suffering for Hemorrhoid Creams?

 

Toronto, Canada. On the eve of CITES meetings, set to begin in Virginia

Thursday, the World Society for the Protection of Animals is calling on

Canada's CITES representatives to resist China's designs to legalize trade

in farmed bear bile. " Farming bears for their gall bladders and bile is not

only cruel and inhumane, " argues WSPA's Philip Wilson, " It sets a dangerous

precedent. If China gains permission to trade legally in bear products

internationally, this could set in motion a chain of events that will put a

price on the head of every living bear.

 

Undercover video footage provided by the group offers startling proof that

manufactured bear bile products, banned from export under CITES (The

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and

Fauna), are making their way from China to North American markets. A report

entitled " From Cage to Consumer: An investigation into the illegal sale of

Chinese bear bile and bear gall products in North America " documents the

sale of bear bile products in nine North American cities, including five in

Canada.

 

Investigator's visited stores dealing in Traditional (TCM)

in Montreal, Toronto, Markham, Vancouver, Richmond, San Francisco, Chicago,

Washington, D.C. and New York. Of the 33 TCM shops investigated in Canada,

manufactured bile medicines were found in 22 (67%), farmed bear bile powder

in two (6%), and intact bear galls were sold in three (9%).

 

Canada's Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International

and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) makes the importation or

possession of farmed bile powder and manufactured bile medicines illegal.

Moreover, the trade in gall bladders (found in both Toronto and Markham), is

also prohibited under Ontario's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act which

bans the sale and possession of galls separated from their carcasses.

 

In the U.S., products were even more readily available. Of 32 shops, 27

(84%) sold manufactured bile medicines, four (12.5%) sold farmed bile powder

and five shops (15.6%) offered intact galls. In total, 51 of 65 TCM shops in

North America were found to sell illegal bear bile or gall products. Of

these shops, 53 (81.5%) told investigators that the sale of bear parts and

products was prohibited and that the sale would violate the law.

 

Earlier this year, WSPA investigators completed one of the most

comprehensive inspections of Chinese bear farms ever undertaken, visiting 11

farms across six Chinese provinces. Almost

7, 000 bears are currently imprisoned in China's infamous " bear farms " where

they are " milked " for their bile twice daily.

 

Bear bile and gall bladders have been used in TCM for thousands of years.

Prescribed for a variety of ailments including liver disease and gallstones,

bear bile is now used to treat everything from rheumatism to hemorrhoids.

Bile is extracted using tubes inserted into the bears' abdomens, or gashes

cut into their bellies which allow bile to drip freely into bowls placed

below their cages for collection. These procedures are often carried out

with no anaesthesia and by individuals with no veterinary training. During

milking, WSPA investigators reported witnessing signs of severe distress in

every bear. Moaning and banging of heads against cages was commonplace, and

some bears were seen to chew at their own paws.

 

Proponents of bear farming claim that the industry promotes species

conservation because captive breeding alleviates pressures on wild bear

populations. Using this argument as a justification for the practice, the

CITES Chinese Management Authority has signalled its intention to have a

number of state-run farms registered as captive breeding centres with the

CITES secretariat in Geneva, so that bear bile products might be traded

internationally.

 

WSPA representatives argue that products from Chinese bear farms, already

making their way into Canadian and U.S. markets, only serve to fuel the

demand for bile and gall products from wild-caught bears. As evidence, they

point to the fact that gall bladders from bears hunted in Canada, Russia and

China are still being sold in stores despite the widespread availability of

cheaper manufactured bile products. The higher prices demanded for intact

gall bladders (up to $650 US for one gall) versus the much cheaper

manufactured products (which range in price between 50 cents and $5.50 US)

are a clear indication that consumers place a greater value on gall obtained

from a wild bear.

 

This would seem to indicate that as the market for bear products grows, so

will the poaching of bears in Canada and around the world. Moreover, WSPA

investigations in China have shown that bears are still taken from the wild

to supplement captive bred stock.

 

Wilson will address these and other concerns raised by WSPA when he

addresses the CITES delegates next Thursday, December 14th, 2000. WSPA is

calling on all CITES delegates to support the listing of all Appendix I bear

species on Annex III of the revised registration procedures for facilities

breeding animals in captivity for commercial purposes.

 

Adds WSPA Pat Tohill, " The fact that these wonderful creatures are tortured

on farms and targeted by poachers right here in Canada is an outrage,

especially given the wide range of herbal and synthetic alternatives within

the Traditional Chinese medicine pharmacopoeia itself. We need to slam the

door on the international bear bile and gall trade before it's too late. "

 

To obtain a copy of WSPA's video and the accompanying report, contact:

Patrick Tohill, WSPA 416-369-0044 tohill