STOMPer Fanny wishes to share this online account of a man who
visited a bear farm and witnessed the horrific practice of bile
farming, which caused a mother bear so much pain that she killed
her own cub to prevent it from suffering.
Bear bile farming involves keeping Asiatic black bears in
captivity to harvest bile, a digestive juice found in the ball
bladder.
The bears are commonly kept in ‘crush’ cages that do not allow
them to stand upright or even move, in some cases.
The bile is then extracted via a tube inserted into the bear’s
abdomen, or allowed to drip freely from a permanent hole made in
the bear’s gall bladder.
Bile farming is reported to be extremely painful for bears as
they chew their own paws and beat their heads during the
extraction.
To stop the bears from committing suicide, they are made to wear
iron vests that cover their abdomen.
The bears are farmed for 10 – 20 over years, and usually killed
for their meat, fur, paws and gall bladders after they stop
producing bile.
Bear bile is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to
reduce fever, improve eyesight, and some believe to increase sexual
potency.
It is estimated that about 500kg of bear bile is used by
TCM practitioners yearly, but over 7000kg is
produced every year. The excess is usually used in wine, eyedrops
and tonics.
There are also natural herbs and synthetic alternatives to bear
bile.
Read the eyewitness account of how a mother bear killed her own
cub to save it from bile farming on the next page
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/...