Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

And for my next trick I will walk 50 miles and ascend 600m in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania on the 8th September to raise money for The World Society for the Protection of Animals to protect the bears. 

Some bears live and die in appalling captive conditions, caged or chained as tourist attractions or used for cruel blood sports like bear baiting. But for others, the suffering can and does end in a better future.

WSPA is working with local organisations in Asia Pakistan and Romania to provide homes for bears rescued from grim daily suffering.

Inside the bear factories

There are many thousands of bears being held captive in the bile industry across East and South East Asia. During the extraction process they are often restrained cages the size of a telephone booth, in which they are unable to stand and can only turn around with difficulty.

The bears in these factories are visibly in severe distress. They are often hurt or scarred from repeatedly rubbing or hitting themselves against the bars of the extraction cages.

Factory workers prevent bears from hibernating – they are often kept in spares concrete yards that provide no comfort. 

Painful surgery

Bear bile can be accessed in a number of inhumane ways. All are likely to be carried out by untrained factory workers, with no veterinary experience.

Depending on the region, bile factories will use one of three methods: 

A tube leading into the gall bladder is created, allowing bile to be extracted. To stop the tube closing up, the abdominal wound is reopened up to three times a day. 

Ultrasound equipment is used to locate the gall bladder, before a syringe is inserted deep into the bear’s body to extract the bile.

Bears are caged, left to reach a certain age and then killed. The bile is extracted once the bear is dead.

If those bears subjected to operations do not die after the first procedure, they suffer from serious health problems.

Infections to the open wounds, tumours, internal abscesses, gallstones, and other related illnesses are common. It is a life of unremitting pain and distress.

Bears may stop producing bile after only a few years. They are then left to die or are killed for their paws or gall bladder.

Protect the bears

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