To listen to the moon bear song live book online at http://www.chichestertickets.co.uk/item/festival-of-chichester-2014/festival-of-chichester-tobiah/2409.shtml
Check out this compelling song about the torture of the practice of moon bear bile farming. All proceeds go to Animal Asia.
http://tobiahuk.com/moonbear/
http://tobiahuk.com/moonbear/
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The basics
Bile bears or battery bears are bears kept in cages to harvest bile, a digestive juice produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. The Asiatic black bear is the species most commonly farmed. Also, the sun bear and the brown bear are also used. Both the Asiatic black bear and the sun bear are listed as Vulnerable on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals. When extracted, the bears’ bile is a valuable ingredient for sale as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. Asiatic black bears are also known as moon bears because of the cream-colored crescent moon shape on their chest.
Bile bears or battery bears are bears kept in cages to harvest bile, a digestive juice produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. The Asiatic black bear is the species most commonly farmed. Also, the sun bear and the brown bear are also used. Both the Asiatic black bear and the sun bear are listed as Vulnerable on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals. When extracted, the bears’ bile is a valuable ingredient for sale as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. Asiatic black bears are also known as moon bears because of the cream-colored crescent moon shape on their chest.
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Catheters
In China there are about 7,000 moon bears kept in tiny cages for up to twenty years with painful catheters inserted into their gall bladders to extract their bile. Doctors have confirmed that herbs would provide the same "medicinal" benefit, making the torture of these bears totally unnecessary, even if one could, in some way, justify the torture
In China there are about 7,000 moon bears kept in tiny cages for up to twenty years with painful catheters inserted into their gall bladders to extract their bile. Doctors have confirmed that herbs would provide the same "medicinal" benefit, making the torture of these bears totally unnecessary, even if one could, in some way, justify the torture
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These Asian black moon bears suffer physically and mentally. This moon bear exhibits stereotypical motion by swaying his or her head back and forth. The tight confinement causes them to go crazy.
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This moon bear is forced to lie in a coffin-like cage. Rightly so, does God say that the intent of the human heart is evil from his or her youth (Genesis 8:21). Human beings have proven over and over again that they cannot be trusted to treat farmed animals humanely.
This is a video of bears being rescued from a Chinese bear bile farm. Cage after cage are lined up on each wall. These moon bears never get to go outside or enjoy any aspect of life. They are forced to suffer day in and day out for years. This video also contains a bit about Animal Asia
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This is a video still of the inside of a Chinese bear bile farm. Cage
after cage are lined up on each wall. These moon bears never get to go
outside or enjoy any aspect of Life. They are forced to suffer
day in and day out for years.
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The Consequences
Living for 10–12 years under such circumstances results in severe mental stress and muscle atrophy. The Chinese media reported an incident in which a mother bear, having escaped her cage, strangled her own cub and then killed herself by intentionally running into a wall. The World Society for the Protection of Animals sent researchers to 11 bile farms. They reported seeing bears moaning, banging their heads against their cages, and chewing their own paws.
Living for 10–12 years under such circumstances results in severe mental stress and muscle atrophy. The Chinese media reported an incident in which a mother bear, having escaped her cage, strangled her own cub and then killed herself by intentionally running into a wall. The World Society for the Protection of Animals sent researchers to 11 bile farms. They reported seeing bears moaning, banging their heads against their cages, and chewing their own paws.
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Scientific definitions:
Black bear: (Ursus thibetanus)
Sun bear: (Helarctos malayanus)
Brown bear: (Ursus arctos)
Black bear: (Ursus thibetanus)
Sun bear: (Helarctos malayanus)
Brown bear: (Ursus arctos)
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Welfare
Farmed bile bears are malnourished and in poor health, living to an average age of five years and wild bears live to 25-30 years. If the bears live past age five, they are most often killed around age 10, since by then their productivity usually drops off. They are then sold for their meat, fur, paws and gall bladders. Bear paws are considered a delicacy, and have been seen priced at $250. Farmed bile bears can suffer from a variety of physical ailments which include loss of hair, malnutrition, stunted growth, muscle mass loss, and often have their teeth and claws extracted. On most farms, surgery to enable bile extraction is carried out by farm owners with no veterinary training. During illness, drugs are sometimes administered, but when they are not effective, bears are commonly left to die. Chinese specialists in bear farming techniques inform that for every two successful bile fistula implantations, there are another two or three bear deaths due to complications and infections. Between the ages of five and ten, bears may stop producing bile. They are then put in another cage, where
they wait, either until death comes through sickness or starvation, or they are killed for their paws and gall bladders.
Farmed bile bears are malnourished and in poor health, living to an average age of five years and wild bears live to 25-30 years. If the bears live past age five, they are most often killed around age 10, since by then their productivity usually drops off. They are then sold for their meat, fur, paws and gall bladders. Bear paws are considered a delicacy, and have been seen priced at $250. Farmed bile bears can suffer from a variety of physical ailments which include loss of hair, malnutrition, stunted growth, muscle mass loss, and often have their teeth and claws extracted. On most farms, surgery to enable bile extraction is carried out by farm owners with no veterinary training. During illness, drugs are sometimes administered, but when they are not effective, bears are commonly left to die. Chinese specialists in bear farming techniques inform that for every two successful bile fistula implantations, there are another two or three bear deaths due to complications and infections. Between the ages of five and ten, bears may stop producing bile. They are then put in another cage, where
they wait, either until death comes through sickness or starvation, or they are killed for their paws and gall bladders.
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What are some things they suffer?
- infection
- sickness
- starvation
- loss of hair
- malnutrition
- stunted growth
- muscle mass loss
- teeth and claws taken out
- stress
- and many more atrocities