The China Bear Rescue - Saving bears and promoting the humane alternatives to bile
Known as the moon bear because
of the beautiful yellow crescent on
its chest, the Asiatic Black Bear is
perhaps the most ill-treated creature
in the world. Listed in the highest
category of endangered species, this
gentle, inquisitive bear is exploited
across Asia for entertainment, food,
trophies and medicine. One of the
key factors in their rapidly diminishing
population is the demand for
their gall bladders and bile juice,
which is used predominantly as a
“heat reducing” component in traditional
medicine across Asia.
In the early 1980's China adopted
a practice developed in North Korea
where bears were taken as cubs from
the wild, caged and surgically
implanted with metal catheters, so
that bile could be extracted on a regular
basis while keeping the animal
alive - and by the early 1990's there
were nearly 500 mainland farms,
holding more than 10,000 bears.
It was in 1993 that I first walked
on to a bear farm and was horrified
by what I saw - and even more horrified
to learn that China had plans to
expand the numbers of farmed bears
from 10,000 to 40,000 by the year
2000. Knowing little about the practice,
my first approach was to
research the usage of bear bile in
Chinese pharmacopoeia, working
with Traditional Medicine doctors,
and discovered that whilst bear bile
had a 4000 year history of usage, it
could easily and cheaply be replaced
by herbs and synthetics.
Intense negotiations with the
Government on ending bear farming
began and progressed through the
90's and, in 1999, the Animals Asia
team was invited on a field trip by
the Government Departments of the
China Wildlife Conservation
Association and the Sichuan
Forestry Department to investigate
11 bear farms in and around
Chengdu. Shown the “best” and the
“worst” which China had to offer,
this was the opportunity we had been
waiting for as it allowed us to share
veterinary and welfare concerns of
the bears' cruel confinement and the
bile extraction methods. This investigation
- and the officials’ obvious
disgust with the conditions they had
witnessed - were the turning points
in our campaign.
In July 2000 Animals Asia signed
a pact with authorities in Beijing and
Sichuan province that promised to
rescue 500 bears from the worst
farms and to co-operate to end bear
farming - and the China Bear Rescue
was born. This project is seen as a
wake-up call for protecting the
Moon Bear before it is too late, and
for promoting animal-free medicine.
Today, Animals Asia is the guardian
of 85 rescued moon bears in China.
As the rescue continues, sadly,
bear farming remains big business.
Although the practice was introduced
to “save” bears in the wild,
bear farming has created a host of
new problems for wild bears as the
stimulated demand sees them
poached for their whole gall bladders
by illegal hunters, and also often illegally
trapped as new stock for the
farms.
In Vietnam, the situation for moon
bears is out of control. With what is
thought to be less than 100 surviving
in the wild, the number of bear farms
has exploded from a few hundred in
1999 to as many as 5,000 today.
South Korea banned bear farming in
1992, but 1,400 bears remain on
defunct farms.
Conditions on farms are unbelievably
cruel. In China, moon bears are
confined for up to 22 years in cages
the size of their own bodies and
milked daily for their bile through
rusting catheters implanted deep into
their gall bladders. A new technique
called “free dripping”, uses no
implant but also sees a high mortality
rate due to bile leakage, widespread
infection and peritonitis.
Our belief is simple. By helping
the individual bears, we can work
towards our higher goal of helping
them all as a species.
When new bears arrive by the
truck-load at our rescue centre in
Chengdu, Sichuan province, it is a
harrowing time for all. Still in their
tiny wire cages, they present the
grim reality of bear farming as we
see vicious scars from where they
have literally grown into the bars,
missing limbs from being trapped in
the wild, teeth and claws deliberately
cut back to take away their
defences, and gaping infected holes
in their abdomens. Understandably,
they are demented with fear and
frighteningly aggressive as they
crash their bodies against the sides of
the cages and exhibit severe stereotypic
behaviour as a result of being
''cage crazy''.
Yet within weeks their transformation
is remarkable. Our surgical
team, led by Hong Kong veterinarian
Gail Cochrane, prepares them for
surgery, which can last up to eight
hours, followed by months of physiotherapy
and integration.
Today, the disabled bears that had
lost one and even two limbs in
leghold traps, jockey for position at
feeding times, skilfully manoeuvring
neighbours out of the way in their
greed for a taste of their favourite
treat - honey - while the able-bodied
bears are running on grass and tussling
together in bouts which would
put world-class wrestlers to shame.
Of the 85 bears we have on site,
40 have now been moved to the first
phase of the newly opened bamboo
forest sanctuary, whilst the remaining
45 are awaiting the completion
of the second phase, in the rehabilitation
section of the rescue centre.
Many of the remaining 45 bears at
our Rescue Centre are disabled and
require a special zone, which will
cater safely to their every needs. In
addition, our development of an
Education Village is as important a
construction as the sanctuary itself,
for it creates a whole new stage
where adults and children alike will
understand the concept of animal
welfare and the importance of appreciating
a species such as the bear for
its own sake, rather than how it can
benefit humankind. This is also our
great opportunity to expand our
work with Doctors, Pharmacists,
Herbalists and all in the Traditional
Medicine community and share with
the public how plants and synthesised
products are safe medicines
with no side effects.
Meanwhile, whilst the rescue is
progressing well and we are seeing
much encouragement and help from
our Government partners, there are
still significant concerns regarding
the attitude of the Central
Government. Although they apparently
endorse and support this rescue,
and are issuing no more bear
farm licences, the absence of an
“official” government policy nationwide
is confusing. So, whilst smaller
farms are closing down, some of the
larger farms are expanding the number
of bears and our greatest fear lies
with those Government officials who
support the continuation of bear
farming.
However, we are reassured by the
words of Beijing official, CWCA
Secretary General Chen Run Shen,
who spoke to the world's media at a
press conference in Chengdu in
December 2002 - : “On behalf of the
Chinese Central Government we will
continue to support the work of the
Animals Asia Foundation and,
together with AAF, we will achieve
our final objective of terminating
bear farming in China.”
The Animals Asia team remain
focused on our goal of continuing
the rescue - and ending this unnecessary
and unconscionable practice by
the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
by Jill Robinson
Jill Robinson, MBE, is the founder
and Chief Executive Officer of Hong
Kong based Animals Asia Foundation
(www.animalsasia.org)
UK address:
PO Box 5713
Clacton on Sea,
Essex, CO15 6QT,
England.
German address:
Postfach 1151,
85360 Moosburg,
Germany
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