Is a Bear Bile Market Necessary? by Isabel Cardenas - a podcast by Liz Hadly

Hi everyone, my name is Isabel Cardenas and I’ll be talking about the market for bear bile and what it means to farmed bears, wild bears, and North American bears.
In parts of Asia, drinking bear bile is a traditional remedy to cure intestinal and heart illnesses1. This has created an enormous market for fresh bear bile. Poachers have decimated the populations of Asiatic black and brown bears to satisfy the demand. As a result, bear farms emerged throughout Asia so that profiteers have a constant source. The market for bile has had extensive consequences for bears in farms, wild Asian bears, and now wild bears in North America. My name is Isabel Cardenas and I would like to tell you about how the demand for bear bile is threatening bears around the world.
Today’s demand for bear bile is large enough to warrant the captivity of twelve thousand bears on farms in China, Vietnam, and Korea5. Typically, Asiatic black bears and brown bears are captive on these farms1. On bear farms, a tube extracts bile from the gallbladder twice a day through an open wound6. This is referred to as “milking” the bear.
In addition to the pain and infection of the wound, these bears suffer from physical and behavioral abnormalities from the stress of being caged. This leads them to shatter their teeth on the cage bars or to try to bite their paws off6. Mother bears have become deranged when listening to the sound of distress of their infants; some have suffocated their young7. Bears are such symbols of power that it’s tragic to see them in such miserable conditions.
Though bear farms were intended to allow wild bear populations to recover, they actually led to poaching5. Not only does the farmed bile stimulate the market but, because wild bile is believed to be most potent and is worth more, wild bears are still poached for their gallbladders1. The wild Asiatic black bears and brown bears are still in danger of being hunted and they are now in danger of extirpation4.
Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid, which reduces cholesterol absorption, dissolves gallstones, regulates heart rhythm, and serves as a remedy for other human illnesses3. However, bear bile isn’t the only bile that has ursodeoxycholic acid. Many mammals have this in their gallbladder and pharmaceutical companies harvest it through slaughterhouses of bovine, such as oxen or cows3. Additionally, there are sixty-five herbal alternatives to bear bile, such as coptis or rhubarb8, 9 There is no need for bear farms to exist, so why do they? Wild bear bile has been used as a traditional cure for a myriad of afflictions for 3000 years and Asia isn’t ready to give it up1.
The market for bear parts is worth two billion dollars4. Bile is sold for as little as $500 per gram but vendors can garner up to fifty-five thousand dollars for a whole gallbladder1. North America has more individual bears than the rest of the world combined. Why is that relevant? The increasing rarity of wild bears in Asia has led to poaching in North America for bear parts. North America is seen as a goldmine for poachers. While a gallbladder can be sold for about thirty thousand dollars in Japan, the maximum fine for poaching in Alaska is only four thousand dollars1. Thus, the market incentive is extraordinarily high for poaching in North America.
I contend that laws in North American and Asia have to be adjusted to protect the existing populations of bears from poaching and farming. Increasing the awareness of the cultural and market pressures around bear bile is a start. Another solution is to support groups, such as Animals Asia, that try to protect, rescue, and rehabilitate bears.
Thanks for listening.
Sources
1. Bears: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan
2. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/asian-bear-bile-remedies-barbarism-or-medicine/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursodeoxycholic_acid
4. http://www.wspa-international.org/latestnews/2011/bear-bile-farming-does-not-protect-wild-bears.aspx
5. http://www.animallaw.info/topics/tabbed%20topic%20page/spusbearbile.htm
6. http://www.endbearfarming.org/en/campaign.html
7.http://www.themortonreport.com/home-away/life/bile-bear-farm-horrors-mother-bear-kills-cub-and-then-itself/
8.http://www.wspainternational.org/Images/FindingHerbalAlternativesToBearBileV3_tcm25-2705.pdf
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear

Photo: wikipedia by Tambako

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