Uncaged

Bear bile has been prized across Asia for thousands of years. Extracted from the gallbladders of Asiatic black bears through a painful and invasive process, the liquid is harvested for use in traditional medicine. Vietnam outlawed bear bile farming in 2005, but progress in rescuing and rehabilitating captive bears has been slow. Wildlife advocates, however, are working to free the last of these animals. In this story for Earth Island Journal, Ryley Graham follows Chinh, a bear who spent two decades in a tiny cage before being rescued and moved to one of Vietnam’s bear sanctuaries. This is an upsetting but necessary read that raises awareness of a cruel industry—one that, despite Vietnam’s progress, still thrives in China.

As the industry took root in Vietnam, it took a steep toll on wild bear populations. Every spring, wild mother bears were killed and their cubs captured and sold to bile farms. This poaching, combined with deforestation, decimated the wild Asiatic black bear population in Vietnam. Though formal studies are scarce, it is estimated that Vietnam has seen a 60 percent decline in the wild bear population over the past three decades. By 2005, there were roughly 4,300 captive bears held in small cages in Vietnamese sheds, yards, and basements, representing nearly 20 percent of the over 20,000 captive bears across the Asian continent.

Bile harvesting methods vary, from the old technique of performing rudimentary surgeries to the practice still used today in China of implanting a permanent stent to continuously siphon bile. All the extraction methods are painful and cause long-term health problems. In Vietnam, for bears like Chinh, a long needle is usually inserted into the gallbladder every few months. This creates repeated chances of introducing bacterial infections to the bear’s organs.