South Korea shows will to end bear farming

[unreal.livejournal.com]

South Korea’s Budget Committee of National Assembly recently voted in favor of a proposal indicative of South Korea’s will to end bear farming by investigating its current status and establishing ways to end the practice.

Bear farming is a practice utilized for the animal’s bile, a bitter yellow fluid found in its gallbladder that is popular in Chinese Medicine for ailments ranging from hangovers to liver disease.

Bear farming became popular in the 1980’s as a means to keep up with demand for the expensive commodity, a product fetching thousands of dollars for a single gallbladder.


Milking the bear’s bile, a process that requires a permanent hole to be formed in the bear’s abdomen and gallbladder so the bile can drip freely, is a popular method for extraction.

The bears are often put in what are referred to as ‘crush’ cages, cages that are so small the bear can barely move and thus not attack the farmer. South Korea and China are the only nations where bear farming is legal, Vietnam having made plans to phase out the practice beginning in 2005. Regardless, Vietnam still produces bear bile largely for tourist demand.

South Korea outlawed extraction of bile from live bears in 1992, but currently allows bears to be farmed and slaughtered after age 10 as to harvest their gallbladder for bile.

The bears have been reported to be living in neglected undersized cages with a variety of physical and psychological symptoms such as malnourishment, lesions, missing limbs, rocking, pacing, self hugging, banging on bars, chewing on their paws, and other visible signs of distress.

The approved proposal from Korea’s Budget Committee of National Assembly has a budget of 200 million won (approx. US$175,000) to determine the current situations with bear farms and design ways to end the business.

Though animal advocates are celebrating Korea’s progress in ending the practice, China will continue bear farming and milking bile from live bears. China came under scrutiny in August 2011 when reports surfaced of a mother killing her cub and then herself to save them from a life of being farmed for bile.

After hearing her cub howl in fear, the mother reportedly broke out of her cage and, after failed attempts to remove his restraints, hugged her child until it was smothered to death. She then immediately ran head first into a wall, killing herself.

Source: bikyamasr

Comments

[the-lazy-one.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they're doing something to stop bear farming. The last sentence killed me. OMG it's so sad. ;______;

[woohyun.livejournal.com]

OMFG That Mother Bear ;__________________________________________________;

im glad South Korea is ending this horrible practice.

[cassie-cloud9.livejournal.com]

Omg.... thats horrible ;____;

Glad to see its ending in some parts of the world atleast, wow thats just senseless torture. Should be freakin outlawed everywhere!

[stormsandsins.livejournal.com]

Oh God everything made me so sad but that last paragraph just... see icon.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

last sentence...you had me earlier but this killed me. T_____T can we just stop killing animals pls?

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, a Spanish program used one of its episodes to show and report some of those farms in Thailand and it was horrible. They managed to film how they treated the bears and how the animals lived, and the whole proccess, and it was sad and disgusting, tbh. I'm glad SK is doing something to end this, tbh. Hope it works, because in Thailand is illegal to and those farms were still there :|

[maffinoyobiai.livejournal.com]

I had no idea about this! Words cannot describe how horrible that is. Gah, I just can't.

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

"South Korea outlawed extraction of bile from live bears in 1992, but currently allows bears to be farmed and slaughtered after age 10 as to harvest their gallbladder for bile."

Was the latter supposed to be a more 'humane' alternative? ;_;

[ohprecioustime.livejournal.com]

yes because other wise they would keep it alive in a small cage and extract when it gets more, until it finally stops,then slaughter it

might as well kill it once then have it tortured for years

[adropofcitrus.livejournal.com]

god I just read about Chinese fur farms and now this. All of this shit needs to fucking stop. It's ridiculous and I see no real benefit to any of it. Advances in medicine are made all the time without the use of fucking bear bile. If I had the choice, every single one of these places would be shut down and the people put in jail. I don't care if you just work there for the money. You are one of the causes of these animal's suffering and you should suffer too. AJDKGL;AEIGA;. This type of shit frustrates the hell out of me to the point of tears. I sit here at my desk just shaking with rage because no matter what I do this shit still happens. CAN WE PLEASE STOP THIS FUCKING MADNESS?

[thatdayismine.livejournal.com]

i'd want to cut a hole in their stomach to extract their bile. see how they like it. maybe stick them in a tiny little cage, have the bears watch over them.

[0ddie13.livejournal.com]

OMG this is horrible =(

[aleexnews.livejournal.com]

omg the bear mom and her cub ;_____; wtf is wrong with people always harming animals? idc what it's for, there's no reason for it. I really hope they stop this asap. ):

[hellafun.livejournal.com]

those poor bears.

[mizukigirl.livejournal.com]

OMG. (T_T)

[baboboy.livejournal.com]

T__________________T

[thatdayismine.livejournal.com]

in china they skin animals alive for their fur and then leave them there to die. the meat we eat is from animals that are put in similar cages, who show similar signs of distress, who can barely walk because they aren't given a chance to develop their limbs.

this is horrible but surprising? nope.

[ghostdrive.livejournal.com]

omg that last sentence ;__;

I'm glad their finally doing something to end this practice.

[ohprecioustime.livejournal.com]

omg I did a project on this, I really hope they end it

Traditional Chinese Medicine needs to stop using animals,between this and Tigers I can't...

[kim-jaejoong.livejournal.com]

last part broke my heart into pieces ;___;

[miitobooru.livejournal.com]

chinese medicine is mostly make-believe shit so this stuff wouldn't cure your hangovers anyway. It's useless torture.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore bye.

[marinamirabella.livejournal.com]

Some humans are really the most atrocious beings on our planet... Claiming to be at the top of the world, taking pride in the thousands years long history and philosophy, and still continue to do such things ;___; I feel ashamed every time I read something like that even though it doesn't have anything to do with me or my friends personally...

[talklikeazombie.livejournal.com]

I remember the reading the old article about the bear killing her cub, and I'm glad they're doing something to end the business.

[pathogen.livejournal.com]

The last sentence is even more upsetting than the first time I read it.