Monthly Archives: October 2017

Using Dogs For Bear Management: Can It Work?

Non-lethal bear management remains a challenge in many places worldwide, but can using dogs work?

Karelian Bear Dog: Non-lethal bear management

An Adult Karelian Bear Dog Trained For Non-lethal Bear Management (Photo: Fraczek.marcin/WikiMedia Commons)

Dogs, for centuries, have been man’s best companion. Often associated with loyalty, dogs have been in use for centuries for hunting and protection.

But, increasing human activities means people are interfering with wildlife and their habitats more now than ever before: Bear habitat included. The result? More human-bear conflicts.

The conflicts have grown to an extent that’s now an urgent need for adequate measures to

How Much Can You Bear? FOUR PAWS Campaign For Vietnam’s Bear Bile Farms

Add your voice to the FOUR PAWS Campaign to end Vietnam’s bear bile farming.

Four Paws Campaign: Bear Bile Farming In Vietnam

For sometime now we’ve been talking about the practice of bear bile farming in parts of Asia.

Just in case you’re new to the subject, bear bile is a substance extracted from different species of bears. It’s a digestive fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder and is a major component of many traditional Asian potions.

Bear bile has been used in many countries as a fundamental part of Asian medicine for thousands of years now, Vietnam included. And although there are synthetic options, practitioners and users insist on using the one extracted directly from the bears.

The practice of bear bile farming originated from China before spreading to other countries like Vietnam.

Why Is Bear Bile Farming An Important Issue?

You may wonder “why all the fuss about getting bear bile anyway?”

Well, users believe using it will treat several conditions such as liver disease, diabetes, heart disease, gall stones and so on.

Historically, bear bile was extracted after killing wild bears. But in the 1980s, authorities allowed legal bear bile farms so as to get a steady supply of bile without killing the bears first.

However, though this practice is outlawed in Vietnam and many other regions, it still persists. As a matter of fact, several of these farms still exist throughout Asia today making a tidy profit from selling on the black market.

Per gram, bear bile is now more expensive than cocaine and even gold!

As you can imagine, bears living in these bile farms are kept in unbelievably cramped metal cages. They live in some of the most unsanitary and heartbreaking conditions possible. In fact, the cages are so tiny that the bears can hardly turn around thereby earning them the name “crush cages.”

Also, the animals are left with gaping wounds, are dehydrated, often half-starved and will remain in these damaging conditions for up to 30 years.

In response to public outcry and continuous pressure from the international community to end bear bile farming, the Vietnamese government in 2005 officially launched its first efforts to phase out the act. Consequently, the number of existing bile farms has dropped by over 70 percent to date.

Meanwhile, over 1,000 bears still suffer daily in the remaining farms. We need to add our voice to free these creatures quickly, and you can help.

What You Can Do To Help

In response to this need, the global non-profit FOUR PAWS has created a microsite that asks visitors “How much can you bear?” The campaign asks you to take an endurance test that will measure how long you can watch the footage of these trapped bears in Vietnam. The video was created by Don’t Panic London and ultimately seeks to spur more people into action by signing a petition against Vietnamese bear bile farms.

The goal of FOUR PAWS is to make the Vietnamese government take more steps to end all bear bile farming by 2020 at the most. In the meantime, rescued bears will be transferred to appropriate sanctuaries.

Please take the test today and let’s get these bears out of the torture they have to endure every day.

References:

https://help.four-paws.org/en/save-saddest-bears-end-bear-farming-vietnam

Photo Credit:

www.depositphotos.com

Supplemental Bear Feeding: Does It Solve Or Cause More Problems?

Local authorities in parts of the USA resort to bear feeding to stop the hungry animals from destroying economic trees.

Post Hibernation Black Bears Suffer To Find Food Naturally: Bear Feeding

Post Hibernation Black Bears Struggle To Find Food Naturally.

In spring every year, Black Bears emerge from their long winter hibernation hungry and with one thing uppermost in their minds; food.

Unfortunately, the surrounding vegetation is typically also recovering from the winter cold so there’s not much food to eat. But one of the few trees that offers a viable food source are young conifers.

As these plants approach their annual budding period, there’s a high concentration of sapwood moving through the trees, just beneath the bark. Conifer sapwood is rich in carbohydrates, tasty and becomes the next best food source available. Somehow, the bears have figured this

Top 10 Bear Sanctuaries Worldwide For Bear Lovers

Bear Sanctuaries are a source of hope and succor for many of the world’s abused bears.

Brown Bear Behind Steel Bars: Bear Sanctuaries

Brown Bear Behind Steel Bars. It’s Inhumane To Keep These Animals Caged For Years In Such Unnatural Conditions. Bear Sanctuaries Help To Rescue And Rehabilitate Many Such Abused Animals.

Despite the combined efforts of several authorities, bears continue to face persecution and abuse from humans all over the world.

And, it doesn’t matter what species they are: Brown bears, or the Asiatic black bears to even the smallest in the bear family, the Sun bear, it’s obvious no bear is safe. However, it’s good to know that there are several establishments worldwide committed to providing hope and peace for

Conservation Spotlight On The “Yeti”: Saving The Himalayan Brown Bear

The Himalayan Brown Bear is one popular animal. Scientists now believe it’s the source of the Yeti legend.

Adult Himalayan Brown Bear At Zoo Hluboka (Photo: Zoo Hluboka cc by-s.a. 4.0)

The Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos Isabellinus) is a subspecies of one of the most widely distributed bears on the face of the Earth: The Brown bear. Brown bear populations are commonly found in large numbers in many parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.

However, the case of the Himalayan brown bear is quite different and peculiar. This bear is native to the Himalayas in remote, mountainous terrains of Pakistan, western China, Nepal, Tibet, and India. But unlike its kind in Eurasia and North America, the Himalayan variety is

Why Does The Horrible Asian Market For Bear Parts Still Exist?

Despite several efforts to stop it, the Asian market for bear parts continues to thrive.

Bear Bile In 250ml Bottle : Asian Market For Bear Parts

Bear Bile In 250 ml Bottle For Sale In Myanmar (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Asia is home to a vast majority of bears. Varieties range from the well-known Giant Panda, to the Brown bears, the Asiatic black bears (commonly known as the moon bear), to the smallest in the bear family: the the Sun bear. And as any animal lover out there knows, there are ways in which we can interact with these animals without hurting them.

However, this is not the case in many parts of Asia where bears are captured and kept as pets and much worse.

Interestingly, bears typically have no natural predators except humans. And humans have been killing them in their thousands since ancient times. But other than in self-defense, why would