Hello, my name is Olivia Dawn Murray.
I will be talking today about animal cruelty. There are so many abused animals in this world but today I will be focusing on the Chinese Moon Bear.
Now you are probably wondering what is a Chinese Moon Bear and where do they live.
The Chinese Moon bear lives in all parts of Asia. The moon bear is a small black bear that has a small mane and a yellow crest that looks like a ¾ moon on its chest. This is why they are called moon bears.
The sad part is that more than 50% of all moon bears are farmed for bile. Bile is a liquid that is produced in the gall bladder. Bear farmers use snare traps to catch the bears in the wild. The traps can severely injure the bears or lead to amputations. The captured bears are then taken to bear bile farms. Here they are caged and then undergo a procedure to have a steel catheter placed in the gall bladder. This catheter allows the bile to be extracted from the gallbladder. The bears are kept in these terribly tiny cages for fifteen to thirty years of their life. Some of the bears have their claws and teeth removed so farm workers can’t be hurt by the agitated bears. Some bears die in these cages due to malnutrition, dehydration, infection, and disease.
Some of the Asian population believes that bear bile is a magic medicine a wonder drug, curing all kinds of sicknesses. The bile can be made into pills, powder, ointments, lozenges, and tea form.
Now you are probably wondering how the bear farming started or when it did start .The traditional Chinese medicine market has been using bear bile for thousands of years but farming of the bears started in the 1980’s because of bear shortage in the wild .
Unfortunately for moon bears they produce more bile than any other mammal. So farmers breed them at a terribly fast rate some times even forcing the bears to mate with other species of bear like the black bear, and the brown bear even the endangered giant panda bear.
A cub at six months old will get a catheter put in. This is inhumane; the bears suffer a life of torture for human use. Bear farming must come to an end.
Animals Asia inspired me to tell you about the murdering of these bears for a medicine that people believe is magical. The Asian government is slowly assisting Animals Asia to help stop this crime. Bear farming laws have been put in place and educating the people are only the first steps. Older bear farms are selling their bears to Animals Asia to be placed in their wildlife reserve.
Even here in Ontario it is illegal to hunt a bear just to get its gallbladder. Here in Ontario you must hold a valid license to hunt bear in season. Should you shoot a bear without a license or gut a shot bear and not leave its gallbladder attached to its guts you are liable for a fine of 50,000 dollars, plus have all your haunting possessions taken away.
I hope I have inspired you to help with the stop bear farming. Please remember to go the HSUS.ORG and type “I care about the bears” this small request will save many bears from an inhumane life.
Thank-you for listening to my speech not just from me but from the thousands of bears.