A bear wearing a small metal jacket walked quickly around in a cage not much bigger than its body.

Sometimes it suddenly crashed against the cage and roared in the shabby room where two moon bears are kept to extract bile every day.

A worker extracts bile from a bear on Wednesday at a bear farm owned by Guizhentang Pharmaceutical in Hui'an, Fujian province. [China Daily]

A plastic bag and a pipe were plugged into its body.

The images are part of a video clip that premiered at a news conference on Tuesday by Animals Asia Foundation, an animal protection organization with headquarters in Hong Kong.

The 15-minute video, with clips taken in the last few years, shows more cases about the plight of bears from illegal private farms or legal companies.

"We want to show the truth of extracting bile to the public, that the industry is cruel and inhumane," said Xiong Junhui, a major member of the video team, which spent four years collecting information in six provinces and cities by pretending to be buyers.

Guizhentang Pharmaceutical, one of China's largest bear bile producers, applied for an initial public offering in February, drawing strong opposition from many individuals as well as non-governmental organizations related to animal welfare protection.

Fang Shuting, head of the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, supports the company, saying the cruel practice of metal jackets was used more than 20 years ago, and the free drip method it uses causes no pain to the bears because they "looked very comfortable".

The company opened its farm to media and the public on Wednesday and Friday to prove it.

But Animals Asia Foundation denied free drips were safe, adding "it brings no less trauma to bears physically and psychologically".

Of 165 bears experiencing the free drip bile extraction, 99 percent have cholecystitis (or biliary colic) and 66 percent have gallbladder polyps. About 36 bears have gallstones, some as large as seven centimeters. Many bears suffered multiple diseases in their livers and gallbladders, according to information collected from the group's bear rescue center in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

"People would feel great pain if they have a stone in their kidney even it's only half a centimeter. Please think how painful it would be with such large gallstones," said Monica Bando, a veterinarian at the center.

The center rescued 277 Asian black bears, or moon bears, from a crackdown on farms and 121 of them died - 35 percent from liver cancer.

"Consuming bear bile poses a significant risk to human health, because the bile was extracted from a long-time wound, where the tissue is sensitive and has many diseases," said Zhang Xiaohai, external affairs director of the foundation.

"If the IPO is successful, it would be a huge hit to the animal protection campaign, and would be irresponsible for future shareholders of the company, because the industry has no future," Zhang said.

Animals Asia Foundation didn't visit the Guizhentang bear farm with the media, though it was invited, but the foundation published an announcement at Sina Weibo that the Guizhentang bear farm declined to allow them into the farm on Wednesday.

"It's not transparent at all," said Jill Robinson, founder of the organization. "We want the records of these bears released to the public. And what we did is not targeted at a company, but the industry as a whole."

"We want the whole industry to stop," Robinson told media on Wednesday.

Related

• Bear bile maker opens farm to reporters
• Attacked bear bile manufacturer opens farm
• Stores pull bear-bile products
• Yao Ming wants end to bear bile farming

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)