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Photo copyright: Animals Asia Foundation |
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Zoos and aquariums across Australasia have joined together to enlist one million supporters to encourage the Government of China to phase out the ‘farming’ of bears used to extract their bile to be used in traditional medicine.
Asian Black Bears –also known as Moon Bears – are mainly kept in bear farms in China. They are kept for their entire lives in small cages so that bile can be extracted from their gall bladders through a permanently open wound in the abdomen.
The active ingredient in bear bile can easily be synthesised in laboratories and traditional medicine practitioners agree that herbal treatments are as effective as bear bile. There is no need for bears to be ‘farmed’ for their bile.
For one year from July 2007, we aim to enlist one million supporters so that we can take a communiqué to the Chinese Government encouraging an end to bear bile farming.
If we are successful, the bears can be freed into sanctuaries set up by the welfare group we’re supporting, Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), and the bears can get the care they desperately need.
To date, 219 bears have been placed in a sanctuary, but around 7,000 more need to be rescued.
Please sign the communique and show your support. Your details will not be used for any other purpose – only to establish through weight of numbers that people care about these bears and are concerned to see them find a new life in sanctuaries.
Show your support! 
Bear bile farming
Moon Bears have been killed for their gall bladders for thousands of years, but it is only in the past 20 years that countries in Asia (such as Korea, China and Vietnam) began to search for an alternative to taking an animal from the wild and killing it for the sake of an 85 gram organ.
Whilst studies have shown bear bile to be effective, today Chinese doctors agree that it can easily be replaced by herbal alternatives which are cheaper, more effective and more readily available. Synthetic alternatives are also readily available.
The China Bear Rescue is underway
Since October 2000, over 40 bear farms have been closed down by the Chinese Government and over 219 bears released into the care of Animals Asia at Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Sichuan. The bears arrive in extremely poor condition - but with tender loving care and intensive veterinary attention the vast majority of them recover.
The rehabilitation of the bears takes many months. Sadly, they cannot be released into the wild, many are defenceless and disabled, bred in captivity or snared in the wild as cubs and do not have the necessary survival skills.
Therefore, Animals Asia is constructing a permanent sanctuary, in the midst of a bamboo forest where these bears can live their lives free of pain and fear. The sanctuary and its accompanying Education Village are keystones to AAF’s work of change through education.
ARAZPA zoos and aquariums
One quarter of all the world's known species of wildlife are currently threatened with extinction in the wild. Zoos and aquariums are playing a key role in protecting our wildlife for the future.
ARAZPA links over 70 zoos and aquariums across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in a network for wildlife conservation, environmental education and wildlife research.
ARAZPA zoos and aquariums are proud to support Animals Asia and their China Bear Rescue. Help us to get 1 million signatures to support Moon Bears in China.
Show your support!
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www.animalsasia.org
Phone: 1800 666 004
 Campaign materials for download
Sign Communique
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