Help stop the trade in bear products, specifically bile and gall bladder.

A bill pending before Congress would amend the Lacey Act of 1981,16 U.S.C. §§3371, 3372, and ban the import, export and interstate trade of these bear parts. 

The bill, the Bear Protection Act, H.R. 5534, was introduced by Reps. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and John Campbell (R-CA) and is pending before the Committee on Natural Resources. Write or call now and urge the Committee to support the Bear Protection Act, H.R. 5534:

Members of the
Committee on Natural Resources

U.S. House of Representatives

110th Congress

1324 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, D.C.  20515
(202) 225-6065 Fax: (202) 225-1931

Click here to find out if your representative is one of the bill's co-sponsors.   If not, click here to find your representative and write or call and urge him or her to sign on now to co-sponsor H.R. 5534, the Bear Protection Act.

Click here for a copy of the bill, H.R. 5534

Why is this Bear Protection Act so important?

There is a long time and growing market for bear bile which is used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The bear parts are valuable, considered more so than gold in some places.

Traditionally, the bile was taken from Asian bears caught in the wild. In the 1980s, however, with a decline in the number of Asian bears, bear farms sprang up.

There are now approximately 7,000-8,000 bears on bear-bile farms in China and over 4,000 in Vietnam. The word "farm" is a euphemism for what goes on at these places.

Typically, the bears are kept in too small cages that barely fit around their bodies. The cages have been described as 2.6 feet x 4.2 feet x 6.5 feet. Not much room for animals weighing 120 to 260 pounds. The bars of the cages press in, leaving scars and wounds.  In frustration bears bang their heads against the bars; they also bite the bars, breaking teeth.  

This is how the bears live for years on end. Any cubs are taken from their mothers at 3 months, months before they are ready. They are trained for performances or exhibition until they too are old enough for bile extraction.

The bile is extracted from the gall bladder most recently through a "free dripping" method.  Bile drips freely through a permanent hole in the bear's abdomen and gall bladder.  If the hole begins to heal, the owners use a small Perspex catheter to keep it open. The bears suffer terribly from pain, infection and disease not only from the open hole but also bile seeping back into the gall bladder and abdominal area.

And the government considers this the humane alternative.

Other owners still use "milking" to extract the bile. In this process twice a day the owner shoves a hollow steel tube through the bear's abdomen, allowing bile to run into a basin. The 10-20 ml of bile run out each time. Of course, the tube is supposed to be implanted surgically, but there are few veterinarians available.  Milking is extremely painful for the bears who cry and chew their paws during the ordeal.

Bears can produce bile for anywhere from 5-15 years or more, assuming they survive this torturous treatment. They are then left to die of starvation. Many are killed for their paws and gall bladders.  

Bear bile is used in TCM for a variety of ailments and is put in everything from pills to cream or shampoo to wine. It is reported that herbal and synthetic alternatives to bear bile are as effective.  These alternatives do not have the risk of contamination from other bear fluids, infection or illness. The market for bear bile is generally found in China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the US and Canada.

Seven of the eight species of bear are threatened by this business of extracting and trading gallbladders and bile. Only the giant panda is not threatened. The Asiatic black bear is the most often exploited by this business. The Asiatic black bear is classified as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This global agreement, which involves some 173 member nations, regulates international trade in species listed on any of its three appendices.  The Asiatic black bear is listed on CITES Appendix I, the Convention's highest level of protection.  The Andean, Sloth and Sun bears and Giant Panda are also listed on Appendix 1. All commercial trade is prohibited because these bears face an immediate threat of extinction.  The brown bear, American black bear, and polar bear are listed on CITES Appendix II which means an export permit is required for trade.  Click here for more information about CITES.

But it is difficult to enforce the CITES restrictions. It's impossible to tell which species of bear a gallbladder or bile came from so Asiatic black bear parts are easily traded by passing them off as belonging to a  bear species with less protections.

It is clear CITES has not reduced the illegal trade in bear parts. HSUS reports, "Despite international laws protecting bears, the illegal trade in bear bile and gallbladder thrives. There's no lack of smugglers willing to move the products across national borders. Smugglers have been caught with whole gallbladders dipped in chocolate (attempting to pass them off as chocolate figs) or packed in coffee to obscure the smell.... [I]nvestigators tell of bile farm owners admitting to illegally exporting products to Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Singapore."

Asia Animals Foundation is trying to rescue bears from this horror.  The Chinese government agreed in 2000 to allow AAF to rescue 500 bears in Sichuan province, "to work towards the elimination of bear farming in China and to promote the herbal alternatives to bear bile."

AAF has so far been allowed to rescue 247 bears from bear farms. The bears now live at AAF's Moon Bear Rescue Center. Click here for more information and how you can donate to this important cause.

The bear farmers are actually paid for the bears rescued by AAF. But they do so under an agreement that they will retire or go into a different line of work. The government permanently revokes the farmer's license.

The European Union has called on China to end bear farming.

It is not clear the Chinese government intends, however, to eliminate bear farms. The CITES Management Authority in China, the agency responsible for enforcing CITES in that country, has worked with the government to create what they believe can be a humane bear farming industry. The plan is to register farms that meet certain "standards" with CITES and permit them to export bear products.

In addition to bear farming, poaching of bears in the U.S. and elsewhere is increasing to feed the demand for bile.

To feed this thriving market for bear gallbladders and bile, American black bears as well as other bears are being hunted and in many cases brutally killed.  HSUS reports, "Organized poaching gangs use sophisticated technologies such as radio tracking and night-vision goggles to corner their prey. According to a police officer who videotaped poaching activity involving a bear cub repeatedly stabbed and then set upon by dogs after its mother's gallbladder had been removed, ‘the cruelty was beyond any of our expectations. We expected quick clean kills with a minimum of fanfare or fuss, but they relished in the killing.'"

It is estimated more than 30,000 American black bears are illegally hunted each year, this in addition to the 30,000 killed legally. American black bears are not only listed on CITES Appendix II, they are also listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 USC §1533, because of their similarity to a threatened species, the Louisiana black bear.

The term "threatened species" means "any species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range." 16 USCS § 1532 (20). The term "endangered species" means any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The Act does not define the term "foreseeable future." 16 USCS § 1532 (6)

It is only illegal in some states to trade in bear parts. In other states it is legal and in still others, the trade is regulated.  A poacher can kill bears in one state illegally but legally sell the parts in another state. A federal law is needed to put a stop to the senseless slaughter of bears for their gallbladder and bile.  

The Bear Protection Act would establish a clear U.S. policy against trade in bear parts. It would give law enforcement the tools to stop the poaching of bears and illegal smuggling of their parts.