(CN) The Bear Necessities

[Guest guest]

Beijing City Weekend > Issues > 2002 > For the two

weeks September 12 - 25 > The Bear Necessities

 

The Bear Necessities

By Peter Goff, September 11, 2002

 

When he was admitted for treatment, he was given the nickname " Mouse " ,

so-named because his swollen head looked like a hamster.

 

Although he settled in well, he ate slowly and with difficulty. Despite the

hope that the swelling was caused by an injury trauma or abscessed tooth, it

turned out that he had a huge tumor that was beyond help.

 

Mouse was put to sleep, and buried with a cross on his grave.

 

Not the victim of urban child abuse, " Mouse " was in fact an Asiatic Bear -

also known as a Moon Bear, arguably the most ill treated animal in the

world. The intelligent and docile animals are often confined in farms for up

to 20 years, in cages the size of coffins, and milked for their bile through

rusting tubes implanted deep in their gall bladders.

 

Bear bile has been used as a 'heat-reducing' component in traditional

medicine across Asia for about 3000 years.

 

Said to cure illnesses including Alzheimer's disease, liver-related

ailments, and sore eyes, bile fluid (ursodeoxycholic acid, or UDCA) fetches

in the region of Y2000 per kilogram, and is one of the most expensive

traditional Chinese medicines on the market. A whole gall bladder can fetch

up to US$10,000 on the black market.

 

Unfortunately for bears, they are the only mammals to produce significant

amounts of the bile; happily for them, they have the Animals Asia Foundation

(AAF) fighting their corner.

 

Recently given the go-ahead to build a permanent home in a bamboo forest an

hour outside Chengdu, Sichuan for animals rescued from bile farms, the AAF

hope that by the time it is fully completed in 2003, the 20-acre center will

house 100 recovering bears and an information center to educate people both

about the plight of the bile bears, and the natural habitat.

 

The initiative is the latest successful milestone in the AAF's work with the

Asiatic Bears in China. Back in the year 2000, the Sichuan State Forestry

Administration and the government-affiliated China Wildlife Conservation

Association signed agreements with AAF founder Jill Robinson pledging to

free 500 bears from some of the worst farms in China. The agreement promises

to work towards the release of all the bears in farms, with the eventual aim

of eliminating the practice of bear farming entirely.

 

Robinson, 44, first encountered the plight of the Asiatic Bears in 1993,

when she joined a tour of a bear farm with a group of Japanese and Korean

tourists in Guangdong province. Then working for the International Fund for

Animal Welfare, she was brought to a pen where they were encouraged to feed

healthy-looking, playful bears. On a tip-off from a friend, however,

Robinson slipped away from the group into a darkened room, where she counted

32 bears, hemmed into a cage, each with metal pipes protruding from stomachs

that oozed blood, puss, and bile.

 

AAF compensates bear bile farmers for loss of income, although they don't

publicly divulge how much they pay to avoid " starting a price war, "

according to Robinson. The amount, however, is sufficient for the farmers to

set themselves up in an alternative line of business.

 

The first bear farm was closed in October 2000, and the bears brought to the

AAF's Bear Rescue center in Chengdu.

 

According to official figures, 7000 bears remain in captivity in China, many

on state-owned farms.

 

The practice of bile farming was established in the mid-eighties, when

licenses were issued to farm 2000 bears. The original target was to issue

40,000 licenses by the year 2000, but a mixture of adverse publicity and

softer-than-anticipated demand for bile products is thought to explain why

all the proposed licenses weren't issued. No new licenses for bear farms

have been issued since 1994.

 

When new bears arrive at the rescue center, they are generally in a shocking

condition. Still in their tiny wire cages, they are badly scarred from where

they have literally grown into the bars, are often missing limbs from being

trapped in the wild, and many have had their teeth and claws cut back by

farmers to take away their defenses. Their feet are covered in thick

calluses as they never walk, they are arthritic, and their muscles are

wasted away. Blood and bright green bile drips from gaping infected holds in

their abdomens from which catheters up to 18cm long protrude.

 

They are demented with fear and uncharacteristically aggressive, as they

crash their bodies against the cage sides with cabin fever.

 

The source of much of their pain is catheters or metal tubes for extracting

bile, which are inserted by crude surgery.

 

Each instrument has two metal discs, one of which is anchored in the bear's

gall bladder while the other, 2.5cm above the first, is embedded in the

animal's muscle. Many bears die as a result of the frequently unsanitary

surgery.

 

A new " free dripping " method was introduced, which involves drilling a hole

in the abdomen and pushing up a thin plastic tube to milk the bladder. While

this technique uses no implant it also sees a high mortality rate due to

bile leakage, widespread infection, and peritonitis.

 

Those who defend the free dripping method incense Robinson " To extract bile,

you must surgically invade the abdomen and gall bladder. Under farming

conditions it is, and can only be, unsanitary and excruciatingly painful. I

am appalled by people who say it's humane - it's anything but. "

 

At the end of July, China's 31st farm closed, and Robinson and her

colleagues waited, " feeling sick to the stomach as a truck loaded with five

pitiful bears arrived at the gates. " Two had huge hernias ballooning from

their abdomens. An old, small male had an extremely swollen head, and one

young bear howled hauntingly from his cage. The veterinary team got to work

examining and prioritizing for surgery. The stressed and parched animals

were showered down and given fresh water and fruit.

 

All the bears - including little " Mouse " - were victims of the " free

dripping " method; vets anaesthetized Mouse, who had a watermelon-sized

hernia, and began a six-hour operation.

 

Today, happiness for Robinson is watching the latest arrivals finishing off

their enormous bowls of food, laying on their backs, and " asking " for a

shower to cool them down. As they stretch out for the first time in roomy

recovery cages, says Robinson, " Chris, Petz, Hebe, and Black Magic are

clearly contented bears. "

 

Three-legged Andrew recently moved in with his new roommate Belton Klegberg,

who arrived in September 2001. The pair make a " poignant but comical sight, "

says Robinson - Belton is missing his back leg, and Andrew is missing his

front.

 

It is the resilience of the bears that astounds Robinson " How they can crawl

back from the brink of death with a catalogue of horrendous injuries is just

miraculous. "

 

The horrors of the farms endure in the memory, but the joy of emotional

recovery by the bears is nonetheless impressive.

 

Robinson points to " bears like Jasper, whose barbaric cage literally crushed

him to the floor for years - now [he's] the most friendly and fun-loving

bear whose life is lived to the full. Scenes like this are what the rescue

is about. "

 

Funds are raised for the center by the usual round of dinners and

promotions, as well as a program of " buying " the right to name bears for

HK$50,000 each, although the long waiting list of applicants has forced the

AAF to develop other options.

 

Much of the education focuses on disputes over the actual medical value of

bear bile; Robinson acknowledges there is no doubt that UDCA has excellent

healing properties, and says it's a credit to the early practitioners of

Chinese medicine that they were able to isolate the property 3000 years ago.

" But society has evolved to such an extent that there are now numerous

alternatives that work just as well that don't involved torturing bears, "

she continues.

 

Research both at home and abroad has indicated that herbal remedies and

synthetic substitutes are just as effective.

 

China's hospitals now no longer prescribe bear bile, opting instead for

cheaper remedies.

 

Conservation groups previously estimated that there were around 15,000 to

20,000 Asiatic Bears remaining in the wild in China, justifying its

protection under the highest category of the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species.

 

China's domestic Wildlife Protection Law places the bears in category two,

which means that while selling whole gall bladders is illegal, extracting

bile is permissible.

 

Proponents of the practice point to the fact that farming bears provides an

abundant, renewable supply of bile, and so protects wild bear populations.

Detractors say that the farms do nothing to conserve the species. " Many of

the bears that come into our refuge center are missing limbs, " Robinson

says. " They've clearly been caught in traps - the demand has driven the

poaching of bears. "

 

Bear farming is so prolific in China that 7000kg of bile is produced each

year. Annual demand of less than 3500kg has lead to significant stockpiles,

and a drop in the price farmers can demand.

 

In a bid to strengthen the market, dealers have introduced new ranges of

products including shampoos, health tonics, hemorrhoid creams, herbal teas,

and even wine.

 

The deal worked out between the local authorities and the AAF two years ago

would seem to indicate the government's commitment to phasing out bear

farming altogether. However, " although central government has endorsed our

agreement and issued no more bear farm licenses, " says Robinson, " the

absence of an official [nationwide] government policy frustrates the

rescue. "

 

While we have received nothing but wonderful encouragement from our

government partners, our greatest fear lies with others who wish bear

farming to continue. " Robinson and the AAF also hope that further

governmental support would result in finance for accelerated rescue, and the

upgrade to a Category One endangered species.

 

Chinese medicine is portrayed as being harmonious with nature, says

Robinson. " What better way to be harmonious with nature than by not using

animals in the products? Now that we have supposedly evolved into a more

compassionate society, we should be using animal-free medicine, particularly

when there is no cost to human welfare. "

 

Financial needs for the AAF are centered on donations to fund the completion

of their bamboo forest sanctuary (where 30 healthy bears will arrive after

two years recovering in the Chengdu center), as well as ongoing veterinary

care, in particular the extraction of metal implants and physiotherapy. They

also need a constant supply of nutritious food, including Pooh Bear's

favorite honey, and other treats like raisins to " tempt their palates and

encourage each new step, " says Robinson. " To show them that life for them

can be sweet. "

 

The AAF is hosting a fundraising dinner in Beijing in late October, which

will include a presentation by Jill Robinson. For more information, call

Ginger Duval on 022-2379-0643, or email mgduval .

 

Contact the author on: editor

 

© 2002 Beijing Ringier International Advertising Company. All rights

reserved.