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Every day that passes, bears are being needlessly abused in the name of traditional medicine.
Help bears suffering for bile farming, one of the worst forms of animal cruelty
Image credit: Britta Jaschinski
Raise your voice for captive bears who endure the unimaginable pain of having large needles repeatedly plunged into their abdomen for years in the name of traditional medicine.
Right now, thousands of bears in Asia are trapped in tiny cages on bear bile farms where they’re forced to endure one of the worst forms of animal abuse, while traditional medicine companies make a profit from their suffering.
The cruel process of bile extraction typically involves luring a captive bear into a ‘crush cage’. This cage is designed in such a way that a bear is unable to defend herself as a large needle is plunged deep inside her abdomen.
This barbaric procedure is repeatedly performed on the bear for years, without any pain relief. And it leads to a permanent open wound that’s not allowed to heal.
Adding to their misery, these bears are often forced to spend most of their time confined in darkness, deprived of sunlight, proper nutrition and room to move or stretch.
Bears can be seen banging their heads and breaking their teeth from biting the bars of their cage out of helplessness. But YOU have the power to help save these thinking, feeling beings from a lifetime of misery.
Join us urgently calling for the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies support and stop the suffering of bears immediately.
Bile bears endure unbearable physical and emotional suffering
Did you know bears are as curious as children? In the wild, they would spend most of their time climbing trees, playing in water, eating a rich and nutritious diet of fruits and sleeping on soft grass.
Unfortunately, for those stuck in captivity and abused for their bile, their tiny and barren cages on bile farms not only restrict them from expressing these natural behaviours but also completely crush their spirit from within.
Fed on an insufficient diet of gruel and food scraps, these bears find themselves stuck, drained of their bile and left to fend for themselves as they live in constant pain and misery.
Many bile bears die young because of complications that arise during the extremely invasive and painful bile extraction procedure including painful abscesses, chronic inflammation of the bladder, gallstones, tumours, and ulcerated skin.
Bears who do manage to survive regular extraction live in constant agony, enduring unbearable physical and emotional suffering for sometimes up to two decades until their abused bodies finally give up.
It’s time to put an end to this cruel trade in the name of traditional medicine. Add your voice before it’s too late.
You can help end the barbaric bear bile trade
As you may know, ending the bear bile industry in Asia is a complex challenge due to varying laws, cultures, governments and traditions.
But it’s not impossible.
With the tireless support from animal lovers and groups, the South Korean government has made a commitment to end bear bile farming. And the number of bears on bile farms in Vietnam has greatly reduced from 4,300 in 2005 to just 190 in 2024.
Now, it will be because of your unwavering support that this exploitative industry comes to an end in countries like China, where thousands of bears remain cruelly confined and are exploited for their bile as you read this.
A life of confinement and abuse, all for the sake of harvesting bile — a product of cruelty that can be easily replaced with affordable herbal and synthetic alternatives — is no life for any bear. Shockingly, it’s not just being used for traditional medicine, but also for non-essential luxury products such as face masks, wine, soda and tonics illegally.
Bears in Asia need you now more than ever. Will you urgently join us in pushing the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies to support bear bile substitutes and stop this cruelty once and for all?
Together, we can make this the last generation of bears to suffer for their stomach bile.
Download a bear screensaver
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Read about Chinh's rescue
Chinh's rescue marked the closure of a bear bile farm in Binh Duong province.