A grisly end

A grisly end

Since the Vietnamese government's ban on bear-bile farming, new problems have surfaced in both the trade and in the treatment of captive animals

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE

Phuc Tho, a farming village west of Hanoi, has had its heyday. Busloads of Korean tourists used to visit the bear farms in the area, but they didn't come simply to watch and take photos with the fluffy mammals.

There are currently about 2,385 captive bears held by their owners after the Vietnamese government passed a law banning the bear-bile industry in 2005. These bears cannot survive in forests and have to remain in cages until they die. Some are exploited in the underground bear-bile industry.

The village was known as a bear-bile hotspot. It was the place Korean tourists came to purchase or taste bear bile _ the liquid extracted from bears' gall bladders. In traditional Chinese medicine, bear bile is believed to be an elixir that can heal wounds, cure cancer, fortify livers, reduce flu, and improve eyesight and sexual virility, to name just a few myths.

With these "magical" qualities, Korean tourists or local consumers were willing to pay a lot of money for bear bile. During the boom a decade ago, a 10cm3 amount was sold for US$10 (315 baht). It can be taken straight, but many people prefer to mix it with vodka.

But tourist numbers have decreased as the bear-bile business has declined after the Vietnamese government introduced a ban against its farming in 2005. Violators are subjected to seven years imprisonment and a fine of up to US$4,000 (126,000 baht). Vietnam is the first government among countries with a bear-bile industry to ban the practice. Even so, banners advertising trai gau (bear farms in Vietnamese), still dot the main road in Phuc Tho.

Bear-bile extraction is not difficult. Keepers only need anaesthetic drugs, an ultrasound machine, a syringe and a needle.

It is an unimaginably cruel activity. One method of extraction involves cutting a hole in a bear's abdomen and putting in a tube so the bile can drip from the gall bladder. These holes are left open, leading to infection and disease. An extraction of 200cm3 of bile can be done as often as twice a month and each animal (moon bears and sun bears are used, and both fall under the protection of the International Union for Conservation of Nature) typically has a 25-30 year life span.

The bear-bile industry in Vietnam has helped turn bear owners into wealthy men and they see their government's policy as a bad move.

"Our government made the wrong decision," said an owner who asked not to be named. "Tourists now go to buy bear-bile products in Laos, Myanmar and China, while local bear farmers like us cannot make a living."

His farm is one of the biggest in Phuc Tho and he is a wealthy man. His house is four storeys high, dwarfing the homes of others in the community, and it has a courtyard, as well as a living room decorated with teak-wood furniture. At the back of his house stands a large barn where his bears are kept.

The man said he used to keep dozens of bears, but many of them died (and he would not say how) along the way and now only eight remain. Despite making the bile industry illegal, the Vietnamese government took the uneasy step of requiring bear owners to take care of their captives until the animals die. Faced with a lack of budget, forest space and manpower to rehabilitate and check on the captive bears, the government's policy that states farmers must keep their bears potentially allows the continuation of illegal bile extraction.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, bear bile contains medicinal ingredients which can heal wounds, cure cancer, and improve eyesight and sexual virility. Consumers once paid up to US$10 (315 baht) for 10cm3. The price has now dropped to $1 per 10cm3 since the industry ban was enforced.

Many captive bears show severe psychological distress and engage in self-harming activities such as banging their heads against walls and their cages, and chewing their paws.

What to do about the captive bears has become a headache for the government and for local activists, according to Tran Viet Hung, deputy director of Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), a group of animal rights activists.

Since 2007, ENV has run campaigns to raise public awareness on the cruelty of the bear-bile industry and monitor illegal extraction.

For Tran, the industry is certainly on the way to its end, but his major concern is how to deal with captive bears that are forced to stay with their owners. Apart from the risk of illegal bile extraction, their living conditions are often appalling.

"These bears do not have any conservation value and they are in poor health. Their bodies are riddled with holes from the extraction process. They have been raised in cages, and if they are released into the forest, they will not be able to survive," Tran said.

When the government introduced the ban, some animal right activists suggested the captive bears be put to sleep.

"People have various attitudes on how to treat these bears. Some think they are too valuable and their lives should not be thrown away by euthanasia. Some people even falsely believe that those bear farmers take care of their bears," Tran said. "Perhaps death will be better for these bears. But the public cannot accept mercy killings."

Despite its activities, the World Society for the Protection of Animals' (WSPA) Vietnam office estimated the bear-bile industry will disappear from the country by 2020.

"I give six to seven out of 10 for the achievement of Vietnam in fighting against the bear-bile industry. We now know how to control the activity and the government is on our side. We just need to work harder," said Ha Cam Tam, of WSPA in Vietnam.

BEARING THE BRUNT

The bear-bile industry is in decline around the world. Public sentiment in China has turned against the industry; an attempt by a company to list its bear-bile production farm and related business on the Chinese stock market in May faced vehement resistance from the public.

Recently, Chinese pharmaceutical trading with Scotland faced sanctions after ingredients were reported to contain liquid from bears' gall bladders.

Non-government organisations such as WSPA are trying to persuade the Chinese and South Korean governments to ban the industry.

Still, there are no solutions for dealing with captive bears. Currently, there is only one rescue centre, which was built by Animals Asia Foundation at Tam Dao National Park near Hanoi.

However, the facility can accept only 200 bears, and currently there are 2,385 in captivity. Before the ban came into effect, there were 4,500 captive bears. The decrease is apparently due to ill health of the bears and natural disasters such as floods.

The government does not have the resources to check whether their owners have returned to bile extraction.

In reality, it is still easy for tourists to obtain the substance _ consumers can still purchase goods from South Korea, China, Laos and Myanmar.

The owner of a traditional medicine shop in Hanoi said he started importing the liquid from South Korea, which is believed to be of higher quality.

Bear bile in Vietnam is no longer first-rate as those remaining captive bears are in poor condition and subsist only with the help of antibiotic medicines. This shop owner also imported dried bear gall bladders from Laos to mix with hot tea.

It is also still possible for visitors to Phu Thoc village to buy cheap bear bile.

"It is now only $1 per 200cm3, or 10 times cheaper than it was before," said another bear farmer, a female housewife with an open and sincere smile.

But she added that the bile boom in Vietnam is now a thing of past.

"Korean tourists usually came in a large group. I performed bear-bile extraction to show them how fresh and genuine bile products were. But the ban drove them away," she said, showing the extraction equipment.

In Thailand, there are no records or reports of bile farming, but bears in the Kingdom are poached for foreign private zoos in the Middle East, or killed for their paws, meat and gall bladders.

That does not mean the bear-bile industry does not affect Thailand, according to Suvimol Boontarom, head of communications, marketing and fundraising at WSPA's Asia office.

"Vietnam is a neighbour and what happens there might have an effect on us. The trade of bear organs might get involved with the local market in Thailand. But the most worrying thing is the bear-bile industry will drive up wildlife trafficking.

"The bear-bile industry needs only small cubs and the only way to get small cubs is for poachers to kill their mothers."

A large brown bear tied on a bed before being anaesthetised and punctured for bile extracting. One method of extraction is cutting a hole in a bear’s abdomen and putting in a tube for bile to drip from the gall bladder. The holes are left open, leading to infection and disease.

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