VIETNAMESE BEAR BILE FARMS

August 18, 2005

5836468.html

Vietnam to bug bears to stop wildlife smuggling

Published: August 17, 2005, 7:04 AM PDT

By Reuters

Vietnam plans to plant microchips in an estimated 4,000 captive bears to try to

stop wildlife traders from catching more of the animals in the wild and selling

them to bile farms, state media reported on Wednesday.

The Agriculture Ministry said the chips would also help prevent the slaughter of

the bears for food in the Southeast Asian nation, where bear parts such as paws

are regarded as a delicacy.

The bear-bugging campaign, which is being carried out with help from the

London-based World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), is due to end

in December, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

Farming bears for their bile is widespread in Vietnam, where people believe it

is a potent cure for fevers, liver illnesses and sore eyes.

One milliliter of fresh bear bile, which is either drunk neat or diluted with

rice wine, fetches as much as 100,000 dong ($6.30).

" This could be the beginning of the end of the bear farming industry, as the

only other countries that still tolerate this form of cruelty are China and

Korea, " said Leah Garces of the WSPA.

Bear bile farms first appeared in Vietnam in the 1980s and have increased

dramatically in recent years, the WSPA said.

Unlike in China, where bile is extracted with a metal catheter, Vietnamese bear

farmers use ultrasound scans to locate the gall bladder and a hypodermic needle

to extract up to 400 milliliters of bile at a time.

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