Moon Bears & Traditional Chinese Medicine – Life in a Cage

Millions of people around the world (and particularly in Asia) have benefited from the thousands of years of learning that has gone into the development of traditional Chinese/Asian medicine (TCM). Although most people in the western world consider TCM as alternative medicine, it accounts for about 40% of the treatment s in China… and a large percentage throughout Asia.

Pickled Salamanders and Snakes available in Vietnam

Traditional Chinese Medicine includes things like acupuncture, massage and also the herbal remedies created through the use of plants and animals. Thousands of species of plants and fungi have been used to create remedies for everything from head colds to hemorrhoids. But it is not only plant parts that are used and  as a result there is a huge appetite to fill the demand for parts such as shark fins, deer antlers, rhinoceros horns and the bones and other body parts of mammals ranging from tigers to seahorses. While in Vietnam I saw stores selling living and dried snakes, seahorses, salamanders and pickled scorpions. All in the name of TCM.

But the animal part or product that makes me shudder is the continued use and demand for the bile from the gall bladders of bears.

Moon Bear in Bile Farm Cage

The gall bladders from wild Asian bears have been sought for use in medicines for centuries. But a practice that started only about 30 years ago is one that will likely disgust you.

Imagine for a moment (and please excuse my anthropomorphism) walking in a forest on a beautiful spring day – with fresh air, birds singing and you have that wonderful feeling of freedom.

Then imagine yourself being trapped in a snare, one so tight that despite all of your efforts you are not able to release yourself. Next you are taken (against your will) to a place where you are manhandled and shoved into a tiny cage … one so small that you are not able to turn around, wriggle … or even touch your hand  to your nose to scratch an  itch.

Rescued Moon Bear in Chengdu Facility

Next, a doctor (of sorts) slices you open to find your gall bladder and attaches a tube to siphon off the bile produced … drip by drip. You lay there in excruciating pain unable to move, being fed only enough to keep you alive, trapped motionless in a cage not for one month, not for one year, but for from 20 to 30 years… if you can survive!

This is exactly what is happening to Moon Bears (aka Asiatic Black Bears) in China and Korea (legally) as well as Vietnam (illegally).

The “bear farms” first came to be in the early 1980s in China and Korea. The argument for their creation was that they would reduce the number of wild bears being taken for their gall bladders and instead fill the huge demand for bear bile for an ever increasing human population that believes strongly in a TCM and the medical benefits of bear gall medical products.

It is believed that bile from the bear gall bladders can cure myriad conditions including liver problems, respiratory issues and hemorrhoids.

It is true that research has shown that some of these conditions can be improved with the use of bear bile … but the active ingredient has been synthesized (in Japan and Germany) and is readily available … but tradition has users wanting the real McCoy!

Because of this, the demand for bear bile continues and although some countries have banned the practice of bear farming it is still legal in China and Korea.

The Moon Bear Rescue Facility in Chengdu, operated by Animals Asia, was created in 1993, by Animals Asia Founder and CEO Jill Robinson to rescue bears from Chinese bear bile farms and to increase awareness of the inhumanity of the practice.

There are about 150 adult bears at the rescue centre cared for by vets from overseas and their Chinese support team. It was extremely sad to see some of the bears, who stayed in their cages despite having the opportunity to leave … walking in a small circle continuously …around and around and around … due to psychological damage caused by life in a cage.

But, at the same time it was heart-warming to watch dozens of other bears playing and wrestling with each other, swimming in a bear pool or lazing in the sun... with the freedom to move around their pens.

I was also so impressed by the commitment of the vet team that come from around the world to contribute their knowledge and expertise to making the lives of these rescued bears better.

A huge thank you Gong Jien, Susan Xiu & JingJing Chen at the Moon Bear Rescue

I asked Monica Bando, the senior vet surgeon at the Moon Bear Rescue centre to describe why she does what she does.  (see my next post).

For more information check out: www.animalsasia.org.cn