(CN) Moon Bears - China Daily

[Guest guest]

Note by forwarder: This article in one of the official Chinese Government

newspapers is highly significant, showing that the idea of ending bear farming

has really been accepted in official circles.

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-02/24/content_308650.htm

 

'The Year of the Bear'

 

2004-02-24 07:39

 

It may be the Year of the Monkey, but for the new arrivals at the Moon Bear

Rescue Centre it is turning out to be their year.

Watching them lumbering out into the watery, winter sun, it is hard to believe

that these beautiful creatures, their black coats gleaming, are the same piteous

animals that were brought to the centre.

 

" The transformation is amazing. It was so wonderful to see them coming out of

their dens this morning, " said Zhang Xiaohai, beaming as he watched some of his

charges.

 

His astonishment is not surprising, given the condition the bears were in on

arrival at the centre just outside the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.

 

Years of confinement in cages too small for them to turn or move about properly,

with steel catheters up to 18 centimetres long permanently embedded deep into

their gall bladders so they can be 'milked' of their bile, results in chronic

health problems.

 

Bear bile has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine.

 

However, the Asiatic black bear (Ursus Selenarctos Thibetanus), to give the moon

bear its official name, is one of the only eight bear species in the world and

one of the most endangered, with just a few thousand remaining in the wild in

China.

 

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) it is

listed in Appendix I, the most critical category of endangerment.

 

Illegal hunting of the moon bear, slaughtered for its 3-ounce gall bladder, had

to be stopped and thus, an alternative way to satisfy market demand for bear

bile was found and adopted, which involved extracting bile from captive bears.

 

Thus started licensed bear farming.

 

The active ingredient in bear bile is UDCA (ursodeoxycholic acid) and it is used

for the treatment of many illnesses and diseases.

 

Half-a-century ago the first synthesized UDCA was produced by scientists in

Japan. Since then synthetic UDCA has proven its efficacy across Asia in the

treatment of colon cancer, primary cirrhosis, hepatitis C and gall stones.

 

In fact, more synthetic UDCA is consumed in Japan, South Korea and China than

the natural form of the acid extracted from farmed bears.

 

A report by the Chinese Association of Medicine, Philosophy and Earthcare has

established that there are at least 54 herbal alternatives to bear bile.

 

Other experts in the field of traditional Chinese medicine also support the

contention that herbal and synthetic alternatives are just as effective as bear

bile and support abandoning its use.

 

However, bear farming has continued and it is estimated there are 209 farms

operating nationwide.

 

The turning point for the bears came with the signing of a landmark agreement

between the China Wildlife Conservation Association, the Sichuan Forestry Bureau

and the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), a registered charity in the UK and Hong

Kong Special Administrate Region.

 

Signed in 2000, the first such accord between the Chinese Government and an

outside, non-governmental organization, the agreement has three main goals,

foremost of which is the elimination of bear farming in China.

 

Since that day progress has been remarkable. Relying totally on donations, the

Chengdu centre - staffed by volunteers and paid employees, mostly local - is

currently home to 116 moon bears.

 

To date 38 bear farms have been closed in Sichuan and a total of 137 bears

rescued. The compensation paid to farmers for their bears and cancelled licences

enables them to move to other areas of employment.

 

At the same time, a countrywide policy ensures that no new licences are being

issued.

 

The aim of Animals Asia is that by 2008 when the Olympics come to Beijing, bear

farms in China will have been consigned to history. That aim appears to be

wholly realizable thanks to the combined efforts of English woman Jill Robinson

and the Chinese authorities.

 

" What we get from the Chinese Government you couldn't buy. They are just

incredibly supportive. They have helped locate farms and arrange for us to visit

them, and they do all the paperwork for us to get the bears, " explained

Robinson.

 

" They now accept that it is a practice that should end and are committed to

closing the farms down, " she added.

 

The reality of a life free from pain and suffering has come to the privileged

few bears at the Chengdu Centre. Take a bear called Freedom, for example: She

really is quite magnificent, majestic in fact, that is until she begins to walk.

Half of her two front legs are missing, probably because of the illegal traps

used to catch wild bears.

 

But Freedom seems determined to live up to her name as she valiantly tries to

climb a sloping log, one of the specially designed play structures in the

rehabilitation enclosure where she will live out her days.

 

When you glance around the enclosure, the first thing that strikes you is how

healthy and sociable the 35 bears it houses seem to be. Some frolic together or

engage in good-natured wrestling bouts, while others laze peacefully on the

grass or take a dip in the pool.

 

Enticing titbits of fruit and honey-daubed tree trunks encourage others to try

more adventurous antics, in particular climbing, all designed to build up their

physical strength and confidence.

 

Extraordinary efforts

 

The very existence of the Rescue Centre is due to the extraordinary efforts of

45-year-old Robinson, founder and CEO of AAF. With a background in television in

London, Robinson moved to Hong Kong with her airline pilot husband in 1985.

 

Animal welfare and conservation had always been of interest to her and it was in

Hong Kong that the opportunity to become involved in such work presented itself.

 

A decade on, it has taken over her life and today she spends more than half her

time on the mainland.

 

The real breakthrough came when she won the approval and backing of the State

Forestry Bureau to set up the Rescue Centre for 500 moon bears.

 

On arrival at the centre the bears are sedated and given a health check before

being moved into a roomier cage to await surgery in the centre's hospital.

During this period they are observed, begin to regain their strength and

gradually adjust to a more spacious environment.

 

Those in most urgent need are operated on first. Surgery to remove metal

catheters and repair or remove damaged organs, including their gall bladders,

takes several hours, with the longest operation to date taking seven and a half

hours.

 

After surgery they spend a period of time in quarantine, as some of them are

infected with parasites, before being moved into their dens, which open onto the

rehabilitation enclosure.

 

Here they spend three months learning to walk, climb, socialize and fattening

up.

 

A fully grown male bear can weigh well over 200 kilos and when standing upright

fill a doorway.

 

The fittest are eventually released into the Bamboo Forest Sanctuary, the

nearest environment to living in the wild they will ever know. Of the 37 bears

who arrived in late November last year, 25 have so far undergone surgery and

some are already beginning to venture out from their dens into the

rehabilitation enclosure.

 

Zhang Xiaohai, 35, from Beidaihe, on China's northeast coast, began working at

the centre around the time the latest arrivals were brought in. His joy at the

transformation he has witnessed in the bears is evident. Invaluable as an

interpreter, Zhang is also responsible for public relations and closely involved

in developing education resources.

 

Valuable research data is also being gathered from the Animals Asia's work with

the moon bears. Speaking as she operated on one of the new arrivals, a 92-kilo

male, Dr Gail Cochrane, Animals Asia veterinary director, said: " We are learning

so much from them. How they recover and what problems they have. We are gaining

evidence all the time. They have an amazing constitution and resistance to

disease. "

 

The current operating costs of the centre, not including rebuilding and

construction work, are around US$10,000 a month. Bear sponsorship, fund raising

events and other individual donations are what keep it going.

 

The bulk of the money raised comes from donations and merchandising by AAF

supporters in Hong Kong. Germany ranks second, followed by the combined efforts

of Australia and New Zealand and then the United Kingdom. Corporate donations

have been invaluable to the ongoing work.

 

A recent downturn in demand for bear bile, coupled with an increasing number of

first approaches being made to Animals Asia by both government officials and

farmers spells good news for farmed bears.

 

" Forestry officials are happy that we are getting these bears. Without

government support it would be impossible to do our work. They are now seeing

there is somewhere to put them, " said Cochrane.

 

" We plan to open on a limited scale, for pre-arranged group visits this year and

to the general public in 2005. We want to develop greater public awareness about

animal welfare and conservation, bears in particular, " said Robinson.

 

Web of life

 

A planned Education Village, enabling visitors to learn about animal welfare and

conservation in general is key to the long-term future of the Moon Bear rescue

project.

 

American thinker, Chief Seattle wrote in 1854: " Man did not weave the web of

life, he is but one strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to

himself. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the

children of the Earth. "

 

Maybe the Moon Bear Rescue Centre will serve as a reminder that mankind is but

one strand and the treatment of animals is a matter that ultimately concerns us

all.

 

A look back over the last century or so should sound the alarm bells - HIV,

measles, BSE (Mad Cow disease), ebola, monkeypox, dengue fever, influenza,

salmonella linked to production line poultry farms, SARS, and the latest episode

of avian flu - all involve the jumping of viruses from animals to humans through

the consumption of wild animals or through negligent and abusive treatment of

animals.

 

Further information about the Moon Bear Rescue Centre can be obtained from their

website, www.animalsasia.org , along with details of how to support the work.

 

 

(China Daily 02/24/2004 page 14)