Bear Bile Farming - Cruel Commercial Trade Harming Precious Wildlife In Asia

By Vijian Paramasivam

PHNOM PENH, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- Beneath the glittering economies and rapid modernisation in Southeast Asia lurks a cruel commercial trade — bear bile farming — where the fluid is extracted from the mammals’ gallbladders in a crude method.

Bear cubs, mostly brown bears, sun bears (also called Malayan bears) and moon bears, are snatched from their mothers and caged in squalid cages by bile farming operators to extract their bile used in the production of traditional medicine, say wildlife experts. 

In countries such as China, Laos, Vietnam, and South Korea, despite strong international campaigns against bear bile farming, the practice has been thriving since the 1980s.

World Animal Protection’s Wildlife’s Not Medicine Campaign Manager Evan Sun told Bernama that these wild bears have been tragically turned into commodities and denied basic welfare to roam free in their natural environment or express much of their natural behaviour.

“Bear bile farming is extremely cruel. Large amounts of their bile are extracted and turned into powders, capsules and ointments. 

“Bears in these bile facilities are often forced to endure painful bile extractions, many are kept in tiny cages in appalling conditions for the duration of their lives, which can be up to 20 years,” Sun told in an email interview. 

World Animal Protection is a global organisation working tirelessly for the last 70 years to end animal exploitation.

The American National Library of Medicine describes the cruel extraction method as the “free-dripping fistula technique” where non-veterinarians insert a catheter into the bear gallbladders to drain the bile. 

This practice was carried out in thousands of bear bile extraction factories.

After the process, the bears were left to suffer without medical attention and some died due to contamination or cancer. 

Bear bile contains high levels of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) used in the treatment of liver and gall bladder conditions in human beings, according to experts.

In traditional Asian medicine, bear bile is used to cure inflammation, fever, detoxification and to reduce swelling or pain. 

“Bears are one of the world’s most iconic wild animals, yet thousands are currently enduring extreme suffering for their whole lives. We have worked on the end of bear bile farming for more than 30 years.

“We are moving governments, organisations and individuals to take action to stop the exploitation of bears now and protect them in the future,” said Sun.

An unknown number of bears are held in cages across the region and international wildlife agencies partnering with governments are working relentlessly to stop this illegal trade. 

There is a silver lining to this inhuman activity in Asia. 

Growing awareness and strict law enforcement in Vietnam and South Korea are helping to save the bears held in captivity.

Vietnam celebrated a milestone achievement this October when it managed to shut down bile farms with the help of World Animal Protection. 

About 4,000 bears were kept illegally by 2005 in 1,390 bile farms in Vietnam. 

But the numbers dropped to 192 on 60 bear farms as of August 2024, a 95 per cent reduction, following extensive awareness campaigns conducted jointly by wildlife agencies and the Vietnamese government, says World Animal Protection.

This is a monumental achievement made by the unwavering efforts of World Animal Protection and its partner the Education for Nature Vietnam, said Sun.

“This is not just a victory for the bears, it is a victory for everyone who has worked so tirelessly to protect them. We want to see every bear in Vietnam rescued and moved to a sanctuary to live the rest of their lives free from cruelty, pain and suffering.

“Vietnam is on the near end of bear bile farming and South Korea also announced a victory to phase out the bear (bile) farming industry,” said Sun.

On 1 January next year, South Korea will end its 40-year bear bile farming and bile extraction that began after decades of waging campaigns against the industry.

 -- BERNAMA