April 6, 2020: As the world struggles with the COVID19 pandemic, World Animal Protection reveals the abhorrent cruelty of bear farming, and the unacceptable growth of the bear bile trade in a new report – Cruel Cures.
The report comes just days after extremely disappointing news that the Chinese government recommended the use of a bear bile product, alongside a number of plant-based traditional medicines (TM), to treat severe symptoms caused by COVID19.
This shocking development is described in the report as both ‘tragic and ironic’ given the handling of wild animals is believed to be the source of the COVID19 pandemic.
World Animal Protection is calling on the Chinese government to remove this drug from its recommended list and only include plant-based traditional medicines.
The report states approximately 24,000 bears are currently kept caged and farmed for their bile for TM products across Asia – in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Lao PDR and South Korea. This should ring alarm bells in the wake of the COVID19 contagion, as 60%[1] of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and of these 70% are thought to originate from wild animals.
While COVID9 is a pandemic like no other, collectively, zoonotic diseases cause over two million human deaths annually, as a result of people coming into close proximity with animals.
Bear bile is predominantly used for traditional medicine; however, the report discloses numerous other products containing bear bile, including toothpaste, cosmetics and alcohol.
The bile is extracted from live, suffering bears, and is one of the most extreme forms of animal abuse in the world.
The bears are largely bred into captivity, trapped in small, barren cages in factory farm style conditions for the duration of their long, miserable lives. They suffer unthinkable traumas on a regular basis. Most commonly, their bile is drained from their gallbladder using a metal tube through a surgically created opening in the bear’s abdomen.
The report describes how the intense, agonizing process that the bears are forced to endure causes them to moan and quiver throughout.
Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, Global Head of Wildlife Research and Animal Welfare, World Animal Protection said:
“COVID-19 is ringing the alarm bells louder now than ever before. Our treatment of bears and other wild animals is cruelty and abuse on an industrial scale. It has to end now – by putting in place a comprehensive and permanent ban on wildlife trade, and by closing down all bear bile and wildlife farms.
“Bears endure a lifetime of suffering – confined to small cages, distressed, and enduring agonizing pain on a regular basis.
“Using wildlife in medicine is cruel, unnecessary and a risk to public health. Another world is possible, as plant-based alternatives are available.”
Recent developments in China and Vietnam have been encouraging, where both countries have banned the consumption of wild animals. Yet, the ban must be extended to include the use of wildlife in traditional medicine, preventing animals such as bears, tigers and pangolins from being abused. Not only will this drastically reduce the human health threat, it will prevent animal suffering too.
World Animal Protection is calling for the Chinese government to remove bear bile preparations from its recommended list and only endorse plant-based medicines to treat COVID-19 symptoms. On a global level World Animal Protection is urging governments, organisations and nations to unite to end the global trade in wild animals forever.
