In this paper, I will try to shed some insight on what bear farming is and the type of welfare problems these bears used for this practice endure. I will first start off by giving a little history of what bear is and what actually is done in these so-called bear farms. To start off, bear farms are facilities that house bears for the sole purpose of collecting the bile they produce. The bile produced is greenish yellow fluid that is made in the liver stored in the gallbladder. The main purpose of bile is to aid digestion in most of all vertebrate’s. Bears are necessary for this extraction of bile because the active ingredient in bear bile is ursodeoxycholic acid. Which this acid is the most abundant in bears compared to any other mammal (Tsai, 2008). According to National Geographic, it was noted that the practice of bear farming for bile can be dated back to the early 1980s in many parts of China. And just a mere 10 years later in 1990 there was more than 400 documented bile farming facilities in China. The bile from these bears played a key role in many treatments involved with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Prior to the introduction of these “bile farms” it was thought that the only way to harvest the bile from the bear was to kill it and remove the gallbladder. These “bile farms” were later introduced only because of the fear the bears would go extinct and no longer be able to be used when practicing TCM.
In the Chinese bile farms, there are usually only two types of bears that are targeted, the Sun Bear and the Asiatic Black Bear. These animals have distinct patterns which make then easily targeted. Their fur is said to be considerably shorter than most other bear species and they typically have a distinct orange to cream colored bib shape on their chest. They are named for this colored patch, because it reminds onlookers of the rising sun (Kemmerer, 2015). It is said that these bears are the ones typically used because the type of bile they produce has been proven to treat some liver conditions (Actman, 2016). Although there is only research to it can improve liver conditions, the bile is widely sold in markets labeled as anything from the common cold treatment, to treatment for different types of cancers. It is said that today there are still some more than 10,000 bears in bile farms today. The bulk of these farms are found in china but their can still be some found in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and South Korea (Animals Asia, 2016).
The main reason we are still seeing these bear farms is due to the fact that the Chinese believe that the bile does in fact have other medical qualities than those that have been researched. Many of the Chinese still believe to this day that bear bile is the cure all. One of the main factors that I found to be still contributing to this ongoing problem is that in China many of the household objects you would buy are now containing small amounts of bile. It can be sold in powder form, liquid form, or pill form and can be used for a range of treatments and even cosmetic and hygiene products. Another one of the main factors that is still contributing to this problem is the fact this farming practice provides a large number of jobs due to the fact there is still nearly 100 large scale farms in China.
With what I’ve talked about so far you would think there has to be some limitations to how much bile you are allowed to remove or how long you can keep these animals, but in this case, that is incorrect. In China, there are actually very few limitations on what you can do with these bears. The only law that I could find on protecting these animals was part of Chinas Wildlife Protection Law, and that listed that the Asiatic Black Bear was under class II protection. This means that these bears under law are encouraged for people to domesticate, and breed these endangered wildlife resources. It was also stated that killing theses wild bears is illegal but rarely enforced (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2016). One thing I found interesting about the bear farming in Korea was that it has been illegal since 1992, yet there are still nearly 1,500 bears that are still being farmed for the bile. A second law that was created in order to stop the farming of these bears for bile was in Vietnam, farming for bile has been illegal since the early 2000s but there is a way to keep these bears as long as they are considered a pet.
As for laws or limitations that have been placed inside the United States on distribution and purchasing of this bile containing products, there are several State-wide laws set in place as well as the federal Lacey act. Under the Lacey act of 1900 it states, “it is unlawful to import, export, sell, acquire, or purchase fish, wildlife or plants that are taken, possessed, transported, or sold: 1) in violation of U.S. or Indian law, or 2) in interstate or foreign commerce involving any fish, wildlife, or plants taken possessed or sold in violation of State or foreign law” (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, 2004). When the Lacey Act was originally enacted there was no known trade in the bile industry, which is why many years later in 2008 a bill was introduced to congress that was known as the “Bear Protection Act of 2008” this bill went on to further amend the Lacey Act to include the protections to those bears who are being illegally farmed for their bile. This bill was introduced to congress but later died and was never enacted.
I think by this time in the paper you would have to agree that the practice of farming the bears for their bile is a welfare problem. One of the main reasons this is a welfare problem is because of the way these animals are treated. since there are virtually no laws protecting these animals in China, the bile can be harvested in almost any way. Three of the main ways to harvest the bile include, catheterization, free drip method, and the full metal jacket method. in the cauterization method, a steel catheter is inserted into the bears abdomen, and leaving it there for the bile to drip out. The free drip method is done by making a permanent hole in the gall bladder and liver so bile can freely flow out whenever it is produced. The full metal jacket method inserts a permanent catheter which collects bile in a bad which is often secured to the bear via a metal box. All three of these methods are all extremely painful for the bear and very susceptible to infection due to the open wounds from these catheters. There have been many accounts where people have witnessed a drugged bear being dragged onto a table and seeing a metal apparatus just being jammed into it stomach (National Geographic, 2016).
A second welfare concern for these bears is they're living conditions. The bears are housed in single cages that aren’t even big enough for them to stand up in. These bears that are kept in these small cages often experience loss of muscle mass, shedding of hair, and stunted growth due to these horrible conditions they are left to live in. And since there aren’t any laws for how you can extract the bile you can count on these animal’s procedures being done by untrained professionals and them receiving little to no veterinary are if the animal become sick. As long as these bear farms continue to stay open this will always be a welfare problem for the bears since the demand for this bile is so prevalent.
There have also been little efforts to fix this problem throughout China. But one pharmaceutical company has been trying for the past few years to develop a synthetic bile so the moon bear is no longer needed. Kaibao Pharmaceuticals, who is responsible for buying over half the total supply of bile per year has been trying to synthesize a substitute to replace the original bile. As of 2015, the company has been using poultry to mimic the bear bile, they have even engineered it to have the exact chemical makeup (Lo, 2015). Since this company is funded by the government, once this alternative is approved there will be strict rules set in place to ensure the welfare of these animals will no longer be compromised. As for the solutions that have been tried in the U.S. the creation and amending of the Lacey Act have greatly improved the transportation and sale of wildlife into the states.
Although there hast been any legal efforts to fix the problem, there has been many groups formed to help try to end the trade of bile. One specific organization that has gone through great leaps to help this cause is the Animals Asia Foundation. The company was created in the late 90’s in hopes to raise awareness of the inhumane treatment and methods used in farming for bile. The company also works toward providing cruelty free alternatives to using the bear bile. Over the past 25 years the organization has been able to rescue 200 bears from bile farming facilities, and nurse them back to health in the protected bear sanctuary they have created.
If this synthetic treatment were to not to work I believe within the next 20 years the species of bears used in bile farming will be almost entirely extinct. According to the IUCN red list of endangered species it lists the Asiatic Black Bear as extremely venerable. (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2016b). It also noted that the bear population has steadily decreased by up to 49% in the last 30 years. Which in my opinion a decrease of nearly 50% is insane and I can only imagine what will happen to the population in the next 30 years if nothing is changed. In an article by Animals Asia, as of 2015 they have been working with the Vietnamese Traditional Medicine on trying to ban their members by prescribing bear bile to patients. So, there is hope that one day the Asiatic and Moon bears will no longer be needed for their bile and they can hopefully be taken off the endangered species list.
Since these bile farms are outside of the United States there is little we can do to fix the problems our self. But if it were up to me here are a few solutions I would propose to end this inhumane treatment. First off, I would try to come up with a law that prohibited the sale and manufacturing of products that contain bile from the Asiatic or Moon bears. For this to happen I would have to work with legislature in China to create laws, and make sure there wouldn’t be any loopholes for people to continue to get away with the sale of these products. A second possible solution would be to completely shut down the remaining 100 or so farming facilities left in China. This would be a hard task to do but with help from the government is see it as a possible solution. To help with this and keep the problem under control we could set strict laws and fines that people would receive if they were to be cause farming for the bears bile. These two solutions would hopefully temporarily relive this problem, until a complete alternative is found. A third solution to this problem I would work on is provide more funding to Kaibao Pharmaceuticals so they are able to reach the alternative for bear bile that is still safe and effective. You would have to hire more staff and well as implement welfare checks on these facilities much like we have in the U.S. so that the welfare of these animals isn’t being compromised. And lastly, I would try and create many bear sanctuaries for these two species so they will be protected from poachers that are trying to kill them for their gallbladder. If all of these potential solutions were implemented I believe it could stop the need for the use of bears in the bile industry in China and surrounding countries.