China, Where Bears Are Driven To Suicide.

I had, dear readers, for all these years I have lived, thought that we human beings were the only creatures who committed suicide.

I was wrong.

I learned this sadness of reality through a post at ATS by Predator187, a great contributor, which led to the original source. Yes, I’m always there. I opened the post because the title was shocking and I thought that it couldn’t possibly be real.

It was.

This is the most disturbing thing I have read and learned in a very long time. To think that animals… who I DO believe have intelligence, language and emotion… despite what people say… to think that they for whatever reason can find themselves in a situation so horrible that they think thoughts of suicide… and then actually do it… like we do… is a really bad indication of just how screwed up this planet has become. And in this case, it is the direct fault of human beings.

Specifically, in this instance, the Chinese. And their TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, which uses bits of animals for supposed cures. Including cockroaches. And bears. Many of these treatments are meant to be used for illnesses, as you’d expect. Many of these processed parts are sold to the masses as a sort of stamina booster.

In this particular case, the bears, who are treated just like Tyson treats chickens here at home, have their bile milked, daily, from their gall bladders. To quote ATS member Jordan River, my first thought, like his or hers, was “What the hell is a bile farm?” Well, disgusting is what it is. Being a formerly lower middle class American, the only time I’ve ever been exposed in any way to the bodily substance known as bile was in a scene from The X-Files where Mulder puts his hand in some and asks Scully, as he withholds the urgent need to hurl, what it is. It is disgusting when out of it’s home. And the Chinese apparently worship the stuff and it is prized in Chinese medicine and sells for $1,400 an ounce.

Thousands upon thousands are kept in tiny cages and painfully invaded. Daily. The way they do it is horrific. The following is from the original source of our awareness, AsiaOne…

It was reported that the bears are kept in tiny cages known as ‘crush cages,’ as the bears have no room to manoeuvre and are literally crushed.

The bile is harvested by making a permanent hole or fistula in the bear’s abdomen and gall bladder.

As the hole is never closed, the animals are suspect to various infections and diseases including tumours, cancers and death from peritonitis.

The bears are fitted with an iron vest, as they often try to kill themselves by hitting their stomach as they are unable to bear the pain.

A person who was on the farm in place of a friend witnessed the procedures and told Renminbao.com that they were inhumane.

The witness also claimed that a mother bear broke out its cage when it heard its cub howl in fear before a worker punctured its stomach to milk the bile.

The workers ran away in fear when they saw the mother bear rushing to its cub’s side.

Unable to free the cub from its restraints, the mother hugged the cub and eventually strangled it.

It then dropped the cub and ran head-first into a wall, killing itself.

I mean, seriously, can you even imagine such a thing happening? What the hell is wrong with these people?

I am actually saddened that the mother bear didn’t get a chance to rip some of these disgusting people to shreds.

Some posters at ATS, probably kids, thought that none of it was real and said so, to which another responded with a lot of detailed and morbidly fascinating  information on TCM and added these two videos as proof that this repulsive practice was in fact very real. This one…

And then this one…

And now, dear reader, you know WHY they poach bears in North America. And elsewhere. $3,000 for a gall bladder is why. All for greed, all for servicing the ridiculous and selfishly vain superstitious medicinal fantasies of a clearly sick society.

The situation in general is more than a bit confusing to me, as it has been mentioned that these farms are legal in China. I am not sure if they are or not, really. They are certainly operating undisturbed. And yet several activist groups are engaging the Chinese government in stopping the practice completely, in concert with Chinese citizens. Not sure what to make of it all. Not sure at all.

It is widely known that the substances contained within these products can be synthesized effectively and cheaply, the thing is the deeply ingrained belief by millions of people around the world that taking it from the animal is supposedly better as it will bring a magically triumphant “power” to the mix. Can these beliefs be turned around? I would doubt it. But the government can force the situation. Will they? Time will tell. I don’t personally have too much faith in the Chinese, government or civilians, in matters such as this. We shall see…

On an up note, a very few bears are being rescued by activists, the key words here being “very few,” however. Video of such here:

Sigh. What a great world we live in. China: 5,000 years of Ignorance and Superstition. I can’t write any more without repeating myself as I am emotionally a tad exhausted by it all, plus there is the rekindled North Korean issue I plan to write about and the secret space thread I still owe spynode, so I will sign off for now.

Peace.

A few resources:

• Do visit the thread at ATS.
• Article, in Chinese, at renminbao.com. This site has a translation of the article and includes the video above. Disturbing photos as well.
• Article at World Society for the Protection of Animals.
• Article at This Dish Is Vegetarian, where Pred first saw the story. They received a statement from Animals Asia, who say this report cannot be confirmed. Pfft. Right. Whatever, this is important and I would say the odds of it not being true are pretty damn slim.

Additional info at AsiaOne:

• Bitter way to purify blood
• Severe threat to bears from illegal bile trade
• Bearing down on an illicit trade

As a somewhat off-topic addition, ATS member zbeliever said “I have heard of over worked donkeys in the Grand Canyon taking their lives. They jump off cliffs…I wonder if they know something we don’t and that it is better on the other side…” Hmmm…

ETA: 10pm, added three still images for reader’s visual verification.