Animal Ethics
Asiatic Black Bear
The Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus tibetanus) also known as the moon bear is a medium to large sized species of bear that inhabits forests in South and Central Asia, Russia, and Japan. Populations of wild Asiatic Black Bear have been dropping rapidly throughout Asia and Japan. The Asiatic Black Bear is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a red list species which is endangered and could become extinct in the future. The rapid decline in the populations of the Asiatic Black Bear is the a result of habitat loss as well as poaching and capture. It is believed that there is only 35,000 bears remaining left in the wild, even more shocking, an estimated 10,000-12,000 are kept on bear farms …show more content…
The demand for gallbladders and bile has decimated the population throughout asia, which in turn gave rise to the bear farm. Even with bear farms located throughout asia the demand is to high to keep up with asian merchants have been known to come to North America to obtain gallbladders from the North American Black Bear. Bear's bile and gallbladders have been used in traditional chinese medicine for thousands of years to cure a range of aliments. The use of traditional medicine is popular throughout Asia and among Asian populations in other parts of the world. Recently there has also been a growth in bear bile products that are far from the traditional chinese medicine uses. Bear farming began appearing in the 1980s to keep up with the overwhelming demand for bile. Most farms keep bears in tiny cages, often called crushing cages, that limit the movement of the bear, some bears will remain in these cages from the time they are cubs until they die which could be as long as 30 years, however, most bears will not last this long due to the living conditions they are faced with. There are many different methods of extracting bile from the bears. Repeated injections of a syringe into the gallbladder to extract
Asiatic Black Bear
The Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus tibetanus) also known as the moon bear is a medium to large sized species of bear that inhabits forests in South and Central Asia, Russia, and Japan. Populations of wild Asiatic Black Bear have been dropping rapidly throughout Asia and Japan. The Asiatic Black Bear is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a red list species which is endangered and could become extinct in the future. The rapid decline in the populations of the Asiatic Black Bear is the a result of habitat loss as well as poaching and capture. It is believed that there is only 35,000 bears remaining left in the wild, even more shocking, an estimated 10,000-12,000 are kept on bear farms …show more content…
The demand for gallbladders and bile has decimated the population throughout asia, which in turn gave rise to the bear farm. Even with bear farms located throughout asia the demand is to high to keep up with asian merchants have been known to come to North America to obtain gallbladders from the North American Black Bear. Bear's bile and gallbladders have been used in traditional chinese medicine for thousands of years to cure a range of aliments. The use of traditional medicine is popular throughout Asia and among Asian populations in other parts of the world. Recently there has also been a growth in bear bile products that are far from the traditional chinese medicine uses. Bear farming began appearing in the 1980s to keep up with the overwhelming demand for bile. Most farms keep bears in tiny cages, often called crushing cages, that limit the movement of the bear, some bears will remain in these cages from the time they are cubs until they die which could be as long as 30 years, however, most bears will not last this long due to the living conditions they are faced with. There are many different methods of extracting bile from the bears. Repeated injections of a syringe into the gallbladder to extract