Introduction There is a continued argument regarding China’s use in bear farming. The Chinese bear farmers argue that having these farms release the wild life pressure due to size of it’s population. Meanwhile having a renewable supply of bear bile, a fluid from the liver, to use in their medicine that can help cure ailments. The protective animal authorities argue that bear farming is animal cruelty, and these farms are placing the

sun bears in a vulnerable situation. In this article, we’ll be exploring what is a bear farm, the usage of bear bile in Chinese medicine,

what the Chinese believe bear bile will help cure, as well as the commercial and economical view of the sun bear farms.

The inhumane cages and conditions of a sun bear farm.

The Sun bears do not learn their “forest skills” which leads to vulnerability.

Bears can go mad and bang their heads on the bars until death.

UN-BEAR-ABLE

The cages are usually only big enough for the bear to stand.

By Olivia, Jhonatan, and Alessio

Sun Bear Farming Sun bear farming is illegal in most countries in South East Asia; however, there farms still do operate illegally and legally in some countries. Bear farming is when a bear is held captive to extract bile from its body. The poachers take these sun bears to farms, where they are kept often in inhumane conditions. The workers at bear farms extract their bile. Bile is a bitter yellowish fluid that is taken from their liver. To extract the bile from a live and awake bear, a catheter tube, a hollow flexible tube, is inserted through the bear’s abdomen. This whole process is excruciatingly painful and absolutely atrocious.

Believed Effects of Bear Bile MedicineAccording to the traditional Chinese belief, bear bile is capable of curing blindness, helping heal hemorrhoids, and transforming people into more powerful beings, like the bear. Once the extraction of the bile is complete, the bile is sent to a market where it is sold openly to the customers who

are desperate to pay competitive prices. In order to ingest this, they heat the bile in order to kill bacteria, then they dry it, and eat it semi-solid.These are the three beliefs that the Chinese believe bear bile can cure and why bear farms exist.

Economical ProfitsThe economical profit in sun bear farming and trading is immense. A sun bear farmer may buy a sun bear for as low as eleven U.S. dollars, and many of their parts can be sold separately. Some products like bear-paw soup may be sold for 2,000,000 Indonesian rupiah, about 230 dollars. Selling these products worldwide may prove even more profitable.In the article, The Kingpin, Bryan Christi stated: “every year China, the U.S., Europe, and Japan purchase billions of dollars’ worth of wildlife from biologically rich parts of the world, such as Southeast Asia, emptying out parks and plundering wild lands, often newly accessible along logging roads.”

Even though many sun bear farmers may not support their own job, or not believe in the effects of the Chinese medicine, to a poor Asian local, selling a sun bear or its bile may bring food to the table for several weeks. What they may not understand is that they are fueling part of an illegal dangerous trade.Selling sun bear products can also be understood as an art auction. As the amount of sun bears decrease, the price of their parts and their bile increases, just like a rare painting. In conclusion, the profit chain form the hunter to the worldwide smuggler may prove the sun bear market and farming extremely difficult to subside.

Our ThoughtsIn conclusion, the demand of bear bile continues. As people still believe that bile can cure them, sun bear farming will continue. The profit chain will also continue to fuel this trade. Unfortunately, this business shows no signs of stopping.

Working for Awareness “Every year China, the U.S., Europe, and Japan purchase billions of dollars’ worth of wildlife

from biologically rich parts of the world, such as Southeast Asia, emptying out parks and

plundering wild lands, often newly accessible along logging roads.”

-Bryan Christi