Illegal bear bile trade rampant in Asia

Illegal trade is continuing unabated

May 2011: Poaching and illegal trade of bears, driven largely by the demand for bile, which is used in traditional medicine and folk remedies continues unabated across Asia on a large scale, says a new report.

CRUEL: Bears are kept for their bile, used in traditional Asian medicine. Picture: TRAFFIC Southeast Asia

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, found bear bile products on sale in traditional medicine outlets in all but one of the 13 countries or territories surveyed. The only exception was Macao.

Products were most frequently observed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Burma and Vietnam, where they were recorded in more than half of all outlets surveyed. The most frequently encountered products were whole bear gall bladders and pills – found in half of the outlets surveyed.

Regulations commonly flouted
TRAFFIC's research suggests a complex and robust trade in bear products. Several of the countries surveyed were either producers or consumers of bear bile products, while in some cases they acted as both.

Mainland China was the most commonly reported place of origin for these products across the region. In Burma, internationally sourced gall bladders were reported to come solely from Laos; in Hong Kong, in cases where the source was known, products were reported to have originated in Japan and over half of those offered for sale in the South Korea were from wild sources in Russia.

Domestic trade of bear bile is legal under strict regulation within mainland China and Japan but is illegal in Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Regardless of the legality of trade within countries, international trade is not allowed.

The study found that import and export regulations are commonly flouted demonstrating a failure to implement CITES requirements to stop illegal international bear bile trade effectively and protect bears from exploitation.

Asiatic black bears, which are predominant in this trade, and sun bears are both listed as endangered.

Traders must be prosecuted
‘Unbridled illegal trade in bear parts and products continues to undermine CITES which should be the world's most powerful tool to regulate cross-border wildlife trade,' said Kaitlyn-Elizabeth Foley, lead author of the report and Senior Programme Officer of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

The study found that the vast majority of the bear farms surveyed in Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam did not have captive breeding programmes, suggesting they depend on bears captured from the wild.

‘The study makes a clear case for authorities to shut down businesses selling illegal bear products and prosecute individuals caught selling, buying, transporting or keeping bears illegally,' said Foley. ‘Both the Asiatic black bear and the sun bear are threatened by poaching and illegal trade. The demand for bile is one of the greatest drivers behind this trade and must be reduced if bear conservation efforts are to succeed,' added Foley.

‘Even legal bear bile producers are circumventing domestic and international regulations by exporting products internationally,' said Dr Jill Robinson MBE, founder and CEO of Animals Asia Foundation, which rescues bears from farms in China and Vietnam.