CHENGDU, China - A dozen Asiatic black bears, malnourished and diseased from years spent on abusive bile-harvesting farms in southwest China, were recovering Saturday after being handed over to an animal charity group.
The Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation took in the bears from state-approved farms in Sichuan province where holes were cut in their abdomens so that their bile could drip out to be harvested and used in Chinese traditional medicine.
Such bear farming is legal in China but the bears came from farms that violated regulations by mistreating the animals, the group says. Thirteen bears were handed over by the Sichuan Forestry Protection Department Friday but one was put to death because it was so ill, apparently from late-stage liver cancer.
China started allowing bear bile farming in the 1980s, saying it would protect wild Asiatic black bears by satisfying the market for bile with farmed products, according to Animals Asia. But the lack of reliable population data on black bears makes it difficult to evaluate whether it has been successful, the group said.
Wild bears are still poached because wild bile is believed to be better than farmed bile, it said.
Asiatic black bears are also known as moon bears because of a crescent shaped marking on their chests.
An estimated 7,000 bears are kept in China's 247 bile-harvesting farms, according to government estimates, but Animals Asia believes the number could be as high as 10,000.
The approved means of bile collection in China is through a permanent hole put in a bear's abdomen -- a process known as the "free drip" method.
Animals Asia says this still causes pain and the slow death of bears. But more painful methods ranging from inserting metal catheters and rubber tubes into the bears' abdomens, which have been banned by the government, are still believed to be used in China.
The latest bears were handed over to Animals Asia under an agreement made in 2000 with the government to receive sick bears from state and illegal farms. The bears were sent to the foundation's Moon Bear Rescue Center outside Chengdu, which has handled 260 freed bears since the agreement was signed.
The group said it was not informed of what specific regulations the offending farms violated but that usually they are cited for having cages that are too small or for not giving bears space to regularly walk around.
The bears freed Friday had a host of illnesses from blindness to liver tumors, the group said. Some had ringworm around their faces and rocked from side to side biting their cage bars.
"Most of the bears that arrived today had scars and wounds on their heads as a result of repetitive bar-rubbing during their years on the farm. In short, they are cage-crazy," said Jill Robinson, founder and chief executive of Animals Asia.
The bears were given fruit mash before being taken away for a months-long rehabilitation program, which includes health checks, medical treatment and living in recovery cages under quarantine. Of the 260 bears the center has treated, 77 have died.
Phones rang unanswered Saturday at the Sichuan Forestry Protection Department.
