the human kind at its worst

I was watching Animal Planet last night while I was killing time at my granddad’s and I came across a program that caught my eye. It was called ‘China Uncovered’ and it was talking about the bear farming trade in the country. Although the authorities have stopped issuing license for bear farming since 1994, there are still quite a number of bear farms that are still operating. Although I am not a big fan of bears, their cry for help was so apparent, it touched me in more ways than one. I figured, this is what I want to do. I want to be a wildlife conservationist. Yes, it is a far cry from where I am right now but it doesn’t hurt to dream does it?

the appalling conditions of the Moon Bears

So, for starters, I am going to cry to spread the word about the conservation of the Moon bears of China. Currently, 12,000 bears are held captive in tiny cages with very little space to move about and not to forget, some even have metal pipes stuck up there gall bladder, used for the extraction of their bile which is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

the unsanitary condition of the bear farms

Can you imagine the amount of pain we are inflicting on these poor creatures for our own selfish needs? Imagine yourself trapped in a cage so small that you can’t even turn yourself around. On top of that, you are permanently strapped to a metal jacket with a pipe stuck up your gall bladder. And to add on to that, you have no access to food or water other than being fed with a bowl of honey-ed water each day. Such is the fate of these poor creatures.

Strapped to a metal jacket

With such limited space to move about, the only movement that these creatures can make is to turn their head side to side. Some of them have never even touched ground before. To prevent attacks, bear-farmers have cruelly declawed these bears and some even filed their fangs down to the roots. And those that were spared, destroy their teeth my chewing onto the metal bars of their cages out of boredom.

bear chewing the bars of its cage.
shows the psychological pain they are in.

This just goes to show the psychological pain that they are put through on top of the physical pain and discomfort caused by the metal jacket and pipe poking their gall bladder. As such, bears are dying at an alarming rate and to counter this, farmers are breeding them at an alarming rate. Thus, causing the farms to be overcrowded with hundreds of bears at any one time. Even so, it does not stop farmers from illegally poaching bears from the wild.

a wasted life.

Although bears in the wild are considered endangered animals, it is not so in captivity. The last thing we need is for the numbers of captive bears to overpower that in the wild because these bears have never been exposed to the natural elements and can be dangerous if integrated back into the wild. Although Moon Bears are highly sociable, they have no clue on how to fend for themselves in the wild. They have lost their natural instincts. So, the only other humane alternative is for rescued bears to spend the rest of their lives in bear sanctuaries such as those set up by Animal Asia.

a desperate cry for help

So, lets all do our parts. Spread the word. Stop buying. And donate what you can to help these poor creatures that have already done so much for us. It is only humane for us to return this favor. You can do so by visiting this website, https://www.animalsasia.org/donate/ . A little kind gesture goes a long way…

help