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CASE NUMBER: 5
CASE MNEMONIC: BEAR
CASE NAME: Bear Protection
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CASE NUMBER: 5
CASE MNEMONIC: BEAR
CASE NAME: Bear Protection
I. Identification
In the late 1980s, U.S. and
Canadian park rangers began finding carcasses of American black
bears, missing only their gallbladders and paws or claws. It was
not until months that law enforcement officials began to realize
the nature and scope of the problem: American black bears were
slaughtered to meet demand in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and
China. In these countries, the bile from bear gallbladders is
considered to have great medicinal qualities. In China and
elsewhere, bear paws are a gourmet delicacy, often used in soups.
The Asian bear population is declining rapidly. All five of Asia's bear species are so rare that captive animals are being farmed for their valued parts and their bile. Overall, all but two of the world's eight bear species are in danger of extinction. As Asia increases its level of economic development, the demand for bear parts will most likely increase. In fact, officials from the World Wildlife Fund claim that the demand for bear parts is every bit as severe as the demand for elephant ivory.
Augmenting the problem is the fact that international trade in American black bear parts is largely unrestricted because eight states -- New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Idaho, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine -- allow the sale and export of the bear parts. Conservationists say that because it is impossible to tell an American black bear's gallbladder from that of a protected species, traders can claim the organs come from legally hunted animals. It is these eight states in which sale and export of black bear parts are allowed that was causing the poaching problem.
Conservationists and wildlife organizations are beginning to approach the problem. At the 1992 annual meeting of the 113 signatory nations to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora bears were listed in Appendix II, the category in which regulated trade is permitted.
Under the existing CITES treaty, trade is outlawed in all Asian bear species except the brown bear. Conservationists have also found an ally in Congresswoman Helen Bentley of Maryland who introduced H.R. 4427 of Representatives which would outlaw the export of bear body parts.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service objected to the CITES proposal on the grounds that U.S. black bear populations were healthy; furthermore, implementing the legislation would be too costly and that American black bears would be better protected by interstate cooperation rather than by international treaty. International outrage by governments and private groups over bear poaching forced the Chinese to seek alternatives. Thus, the Chinese have begun to "farm" bears and "milk" the bile from them. Most of these bears come from the Yunan province in China, with about 8,000 currently in captivity.
The World Wide Fund for
Nature (WWF) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
launched campaigns against the trade in bear gall bladders, claws,
and paws. However, the farming, permissible under Annex II of
CITES, circumvented their efforts. Now these groups focus on the
horrid conditions under which these animals are kept and the threat
to extinction that the capture of wild bears holds for farming
purposes.
The IFAW visit to the Zhuhai
bear farm in 1993 (located near Hong Kong in China) sparked the
international movement against the bear farms. The bears have
tubes inserted into their stomachs in order to extract bile several
times a day. While these bears are not immediately killed as in
poaching, their lifetimes are still rather short. The bears are
kept in cages so small that the animals must put their arms and
legs outside of the cages. One IFAW official noted that "many of
the bears...appear sick with their faces covered in scabs...several
of the larger animals have one paw missing." There is a restaurant
just outside the farm that sells paws; customers tour the farm to
select their meal.
Bear farms are nonetheless a booming industry in China, with over 500 farms housing over 8,000 bears. China is now a major exporter of bile. The bile is a key ingredient in Chinese medicine, part of over 80 types of prescriptions that cure everything from cancer to athlete's foot. Few have any documented medical purpose. The bile is taken directly with wine, or mixed with Chinese herbs and rubbed directly on the skin. These prescriptions are often sought in lieu of proven medical treatments for maladies.
In June 1993 IFAW launched a
campaign to save the bears. It encouraged its 1.3 million members
to write letters to China's embassies protesting the practice.
IFAW produced a videotape documenting the practice and offered to
resettle the bears. On a site visit to the Jiang Li, China bear
farm by Jim Lee in August 1994, there were approximately 500 bears
kept on the premises along with one Amur tiger. About 50 bears
were kept in one large open pen, with the others held in solitary
cages for milking the bile or for breeding and cubs held in a
nursery. Next door, a shop sold bear wine, bear potions, and bear
powder products. The shop was located inside a government tourist
bureau.
The Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC), a watchdog initiative was formed through the joining of World Wildlife Fund and The World Conservation Union. This was the powerful joint force involved in getting the black bear added to the CITES list. The WWF and the WCU continue to pressure the Canadian government for tighter crackdowns on offenders of the Canadian Wild Animal and Plant Protection Act. Recently, Canada's Bear Watch spokesperson, David Baker, called for increased fines and penalties for conviction of trade in illegal parts of British Columbian black bears.
Experts argue that while the British Colombian bear population remains at a healthy 300,000 to 400,000 now, up to 40,000 bears are illegally poached per year. In this same article, Mark Hayden stated, "The penalties (a maximum fine of 10,000 Canadian dollars or 7,500 U.S. dollars) are only enough to deter small-time poachers. We need penalties to deter the hard core." Conservationist organizations throughout British Columbia continue to press for harsher fines and even the institution of jail sentences for traffickers in illegal bear parts.
VEAL case
ECFURBAN case
BABYSEAL case
SHARK case
SWIFT case
ORANG case
TUNA case
HARP case
TIGER case
TIGERIND case
MEDICINE case
Keyword Clusters
(1): Forum = CITES
(2): Bio-geography = TEMPerate [TEMP]
(3): Environmental Problem = Species Loss Land [SPLL]
II. Legal
Clusters III. Geographic
Clusters
a. Geographic Domain : ASIA
b. Geographic Site : East Asia [EASIA]
c. Geographic Impact : CHINA
IV. Trade
Clusters
a. Directly Related : YES BEAR
b. Indirectly Related : YES PHARMaceuticals
c. Not Related : NO
d. Process Related : YES Species Loss Land [SPLL]
V. Environment
ClustersName: Bear (Ursus Americanus)
Type: Animal/Mammal/Carnivore
Diversity: 36 mammals per 10,000 km/sq (U.S.)
VI. Other
Factors"Animal Farms: Campaign to Stop Bear Killing Launched." Window (June 18, 1993). "Elephant Skin and Bones." The Economist 322 (February 29, 1992): 48. Griffin, Kathy. "Bid to Stop Suffering of China's Black Bears." South China Morning Post (June 29, 1993): 7-9. Griffin, Kathy. "Restrictions on Rare Species Medicine Trade." South China Morning Post (January 28, 1994): 3. Griffin, Kathy. "Fake Bear Gall Bladder Scam." South China Morning Post (January 27, 1994): 2. H.R. 4427. Congressional Record (March 9, 1992): E582-585. Laxton, Andrew. "Progress Made in Curbing Animal Parts Trade: Protection Efforts Praised." South China Morning Post, (February 6, 1994): 4. Mills, Judy. "Milking the Bear Trade." International Wildlife 22 (May/June, 1992): 38-45. Sharma, Yohova. "Environment-Hong Kong: Ban on Tiger Parts and Bear." Inter Press Services (January 28, 1994). Tefft, Sheila. "Hong Kong is Smuggling Hub for Banned Animal Parts." Christian Science Monitor (November 30, 1993): 11. "U.S. Cites Nations for Failing to Halt Trade in Tiger and Rhinoceros Products." National Wildlife 32 (December 1993/January 1994): 29.