How to stop the cruel practice of bear farming – words Al Woods

There is nothing worse than seeing – what should be a wild animal – suffering for our human pleasure or for profit in some way. To see bears in a zoo is one thing but to see them cramped up in tiny cages in often squalid conditions just to extract their bile in sickening.

In Vietnam over 1300 bears are kept in such barbaric conditions in cramped cages either in bear farms and even some people’s backyards. The not for profit Four Paws organisation have got together with Don’t Panic to create a video and campaign set to try and end this animal cruelty once and for all by 2020.

The bear endurance test demo from Don’t Panic on Vimeo.

Bear bile has been used in traditional Asian medicine for thousands of years. It is thought that the bile used in Traditional Chinese Medicine cures many human complaints such as liver disease, diabetes, and heart disease and is even used as a hangover cure.

Research by Four Paws has highlighted this disturbing practice and how it is still widespread in Vietnam. Thankfully it is a practice that has been tackled by the government there back in 2005 but the charity thinks it’s time to stop it all together.

The practice of bear farming began back in the 1980s. They used to kill the bears in the wild for their bile before then. At one time there were over 4000 such bear farms. This just goes to show what government action can do.

In order to raise awareness and put further pressure on the Vietnamese government they came up with this endurance test to see how long a viewer could stand to sit through the video before pressing stop.

Take the test and share with others to spread awareness, and help Four Paws gather enough signatures to put an end to their suffering: www.endurancetest.four-paws.org

You can visit the Four Paws facebook page for more information on the bear bile farming video, bear bile uses and bear bile alternatives here

How to stop the cruel practice of bear farming – words Al Woods