Sun Bear Bile Extraction
Uploaded by Scott_Ingram on Sep 19, 2006
The subject of Sun Bear treatment always has a lot of very strong opinions on both sides of the story. I personally feel that the cruelty of killing Sun Bears for their body parts and bile extraction is extremely unnecessary, even though it can be used for medical purposes.
The extraction of bile from Sun Bears and the other species of bears has been used for traditional Chinese medicine for over 3,000 years. The medicine helps cure illness related to high temperatures, sore eyes, relieving spasms and liver upset. Bears provide an abundant supply of bile. They have the highest content of bile compared to any other animal. This is what makes them such a target and it is a main reason for the species being endangered.
One of the main reasons why I am against the extraction of bile is because it often results in the unnecessary death of Sun Bears and I believe that other ways should be used to produce/consume bile. Many Chinese Practitioners state that there are at least 75 herbal alternatives on the market currently and that can replace the use of bile in medicines, 54 of them have been proven to work. The alternatives are a cheaper, more convenient source and they are just as effective without the cruelty and the deaths of innocent animals.
On the other side of the story, it provides good sources of income and employment. It is a good tourist attraction as many people enjoy eating their meat. Using Sun Bears as a source of food is no different than any other animal, since all other animals get slaughtered for their meat and their body parts are used, including their paws and gall bladders which are removed after the bear is dead. For example pig’s get slaughtered for their meat and their ears are used as a snack for dogs and other similar pets, yet there are no major petitions against that, so why should it be any different for Sun Bears. In fact Sun Bears help produce many products and delicacies such as shampoo and wine.
Even though Sun Bear products are useful and do provide a lot of good things, the species are almost extinct and research shows that the Bear farms are doing very little to conserve the species. The bears are treated horribly and have to go through tremendous events such as bile extraction. When the bile is...