Bear gallbladders have a very high concentration of what’s called ursodeoxycholic acid in their gallbladders, particularly in the winter. … So there’s one reason why bear gallbladders are so expensive:
they have serious medicinal properties
, which makes them inherently valuable.
What do Chinese use bear bile for?
BEAR BILE AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE. Bear bile has been a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine for 3,000 years. [1] It has been used to cure various ailments, such as
fever, gall stones, liver problems, heart disease, and eye irritation
.
Why are bears farmed for their bile?
It is sometimes argued by bile farmers that farming bears
helps to conserve the country’s wild populations of endangered sun and moon bears
, by reducing the number of bears killed in the wild. Many farms even claim to breed their own bears.
Why do Chinese eat bear gallbladder?
China began
farming bears to extract their bile in the 1980s
. While farming was intended as a way to take pressure off wild bears being poached for their gall bladders, many consumers prefer bile from wild bears, believing it to have more medicinal strength.
Can you buy bear bile?
Also, the bear bile is
sold from the bear farms to pharmaceutical companies
, which produce the manufactured bile medicines. These companies are able to obtain the best price from the bear farms. One shop in Toronto quoted a different price for Chinese farmed bile powder, to the investigators.
Why is it illegal to sell a bears gallbladder?
With the rapid decline in Asian bear populations primarily due to demand for bear parts trade, other bear species such as American black bear are targeted to address the demand for bear parts. … Bear gall bladder is
illegally sold for non-traditional medicinal purposes
.
Is bear bile farming still legal?
It’s still legal in China but not in Vietnam
In Vietnam, bear bile
farming has been illegal since 1992
but has persisted due to legal loopholes and continuing demand. … Working together, Animals Asia and the Vietnam government will rescue every bear and close every farm by 2022.
Why are bears killed for their gallbladder?
Bile
bears, sometimes called battery bears, are bears kept in captivity to harvest their bile, a digestive fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, which is used by some traditional Asian medicine practitioners.
How much is a bear gallbladder worth in China?
The bile can sell for
about $185 per pound
in China, with an average wild bear gallbladder demanding about $10,000 in South Korea, according to the center. Such poaching of bear gallbladders has occurred for many years in U.S. forests and parks.
What is a bear gallbladder worth?
A U.S. hunter can sell a bear gallbladder for
$20 to $120
, with the retail price ranging from $75 to $600. Paws fetch $25 to $60 each, while a carcass or hide can range from $200 to $1,500, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In Taiwan, however, gallbladders were selling in 1991 for $800 to $3,000.
Which animal is killed for its gallbladder?
The trade is heavily centralized in China and South Korea, where
bears
are farmed for their bile in what amounts to a horror show — bears being kept in small cages for years with a tube inserted directly into their gallbladder to obta in bile until the bear eventually dies from infection and agony.
Is bear bile illegal in the US?
While the use of bear bile continues in China,
it is also being used illegally in the United States
. … Section 3372 of the Lacey Act criminalizes the importation of bear bile products into the United States.
What is an alternative to bear bile?
Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA)
, the active component of bear bile is used in a synthetic form in Western medicine and can serve as an alternative to bear bile in the treatment and management of certain cholestatic liver conditions.
Why are bear paws so valuable?
For thousands of years,
bear parts have been used as cures in traditional Chinese medicine
. Nearly every part of the bear has medicinal use. In Korea, bear paws have been considered an exotic delicacy reserved only for the elite since the ancient dynasties. Today, a bowl of bear paw soup can cost as much as $1,000.
How do you stop bear bile farms?
- 1/ Tell the world. Animals Asia firmly believes that every additional person who finds out about bear bile farming brings us one step closer to ending the practice. …
- 2/ Form a Volunteer Support Group. …
- 3/ Organise an event. …
- 4/ Sign up and stay up to date. …
- 5/ Donate.
Why do poachers want bear paws?
Bear paws are also in demand, often for use in soup, while the baculum — or penis bone — is also sought after
for its perceived medicinal benefit
, Jordan said. Jordan said wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest illegal market in the world, worth roughly $205 billion.
