Why do Chinese use bear bile?
China began farming bears to extract their bile in the 1980s. While farming was intended as a way to take pressure off wild bears being poached for their gall bladders, many consumers prefer bile from wild bears, believing it to have more medicinal strength. The extraction of bile is invasive and often painful.
What is black bear gallbladder used for?
Bears as medicine Medical applications include treatment of life-threatening cancers, burns, pain and redness of the eyes, asthma, sinusitis and pain in general. Bear gall bladder is also used to treat serious liver ailments and as a tonic to prevent liver damage from over-consumption of alcohol.
Is bear bile legal?
Unfortunately, bear bile farming is still completely legal in China. Although there are regulations in place aimed at curbing the worst cruelty, these are often ignored and so far there have been no prosecutions. Bears on bile farms live in isolation and cannot express any natural behaviours.
What is an alternative to bear bile?
Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), the active component of bear bile is used in a synthetic form in Western medicine and can serve as an alternative to bear bile in the treatment and management of certain cholestatic liver conditions.
How do you remove a bear gallbladder?
Bear’s bile is extracted using various invasive techniques, all of which cause severe suffering, pain and infection. The method claimed to be the most ‘humane’ by bile farmers, is ‘free-drip’ method, where bears undergo surgery to create a permanent open passage from their gallbladder through their abdomen.
Can you sell bear gallbladder?
Bear gall bladder is illegally sold for non-traditional medicinal purposes. The price for an illegal bear gall bladder typically starts between $50 and $200, and depending on the market can end up being sold several times over at prices exceeding $1,000 per organ.
Why can’t you sell bear gallbladder?
Bear gallbladders have a very high concentration of what’s called ursodeoxycholic acid in their gallbladders, particularly in the winter. So there’s one reason why bear gallbladders are so expensive: they have serious medicinal properties, which makes them inherently valuable.
What is a bear gallbladder worth?
A U.S. hunter can sell a bear gallbladder for $20 to $120, with the retail price ranging from $75 to $600. Paws fetch $25 to $60 each, while a carcass or hide can range from $200 to $1,500, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
How is a bear gallbladder removed?
The easiest way to remove a gallbladder from a black bear, according to hunters, is to start a deep slit from just above the waistline and cut straight towards the lowest rung of the rib cage.
Why are gallbladders so expensive?
How much can I sell my gallstones for?
According to police, the gallstones are prized in Eastern medicine and can sell for as much at $20,000 a kilogram.