New warning over China bear farms

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2366699.stm

 

Monday, 28 October, 2002, 02:18 GMT

New warning over China bear farms

 

The lucrative but illegal export trade in bear

products coming from farms in China is threatening the

existence of some species of the animal, a new report

by campaigners says.

The trade in bile produced from bears - used in

traditional Chinese medicines - is worth millions of

dollars a year to China, according to the World

Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

 

The organisation claims about 7,000 bears are kept at

more than 200 farms across China the country in

excessively cruel conditions.

 

It is launching a new international campaign to draw

attention to their plight and seek better legal

protection for all bear species.

 

It is also calling for protests to be made to the

sponsors of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

 

The report accuses the farms of speeding the

disappearance of Asiatic brown and black bears and sun

bears in the wild, as more are sought to replace those

dying on farms.

 

'Excruciatingly painful'

 

It follows a three-year investigation by the WSPA of

shops and companies in eight countries; the United

States, Canada. Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia,

Singapore and Taiwan.

 

The group discovered that products using bear bile -

which is included in everything from hair shampoo to

wine and medicinal tonics - were openly sold in many

of the shops surveyed, including up to 70% of those

investigated in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the US.

 

 

Of the 7,000kg produced by the country each year, the

WSPA estimates that around 3,000kg is sent abroad for

consumption.

 

In Japan, bear bile fetches more than $250 a gram in

shops.

 

The substance is extracted from a bear's gall bladder

in an excruciatingly painful process which involves

slicing into the animal's flesh to " milk " bile from

the gall bladder with a tube.

 

The prcoess causes many of the animals to resort to

chewing their paws to cope with the pain.

 

The animals are often cruelly neglected and kept in

tiny metal cages where they are often unable to stand

straight, the charity said.

 

They also only live to around 10 years of age - only a

third of the normal life expectancy of a bear living

in the wild.

 

The organisation has warned that the exploitation of

the bears for their bile could rapidly lead to their

extinction.

 

" Bears are the victim of a blatant illegal trade that

has put a price on the head of every living bear, "

said a senior WSPA official Victor Watkins.

 

" China's bear bile farms are a root cause of this

problem and urgent action needs to be taken to stop

the trade and close down these farms. "

 

 

 

 

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