Help Stop Bear Farming - Join Calvin Ayre and Make a Difference

Imagine for a moment that you’re an Asiatic Black Bear, a majestic species but one that is in danger of extinction. Then imagine that you’re captured and forced into a small cage which is barely large enough to contain you. Now imagine that a catheter is inserted into your gall bladder so that your bile can drip into a container and be collected. Imagine the pain. Pain so intense that some bears chew on their own limbs in an effort to escape it.

Sadly, this is a reality for between 7,000 and 10,000 bears in China. Bear bile is believed to have medicinal properties, and so it is used in traditional Chinese medicine. Bear poaching was outlawed in China in the 1980s, so special farms were set up by the government to allow the bile to be collected.

Supporters claim that the general population of bears would be at great risk without the camps, and that incidents of poaching would be widespread. Critics point out the cruelty of the process and also that synthetic bear bile (also known as ursodeoxycholic acid) is cheaper and just as effective as real bear bile.

Fortunately, there are concerned individuals out there who are looking to do something about this. In fact, The Calvin Ayre Foundation recently announced that it is joining forces with the World Society for the Protection of Animals with the stated goal of convincing the Chinese Government to stop the barbaric practice of Bear Farming before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

To learn more about what you can do to stop this practice, visit calvinayrefoundation.com and/or stopbearfarming.com.

Help Stop Bear Farming - Join Calvin Ayre and Make a Difference