The Plight of Bears in China.
by Nyssa on 22 December 2000 @ 01:30 AM
In China, thousands of bears, throughout the country ( i believe) are kept prisoner in small cages attached to tubes that drain the bile from their gall bladders...to be used in Chinese Medicine.
How can we intervene in this 'time honoured cultural tradition' in such a large country with such a large population? The only thing that comes to mind is global awareness and pressure. The kind that lead to the international outrage that brought a halt to the baby seal hunt in Canada and led to the protection of whales and dolphins from mass slaughter (the fact that the Japanese and Norwegians still kill dolphins and whales means that we haven't been entirely sucessful...yet...but the global condemnation is still there and I believe that it will force the Japanese to bring a halt to their monstrous activities)
Radagast you seem to be the head honcho here... do you know if Greenpeace has a position on this chinese bear bile situation? Does an animal have to be an endangered species to attract the attention of Greenpeace?
There has been a lot of media attention directed towards towards other animals rights abuses, and i am thankful for that, but what is it about the bear situation that keeps it hidden away...
Is it possible for us...the cyberactivits here to band together and do something about this...even if we organised a trip over there to conduct research and take pictures ( undercover ofcourse) It sounds like a crazy idea..but it is not.
I am a journalist and a photographer, my husband is a producer/director of films and videos and works for a production company in Newcastle ...we make films for fun ( three so far for various film festivals)...
We would need to finance the trip of course and we don't have much money...could we raise the funds somehow??? I could look into a way of doing that legitimately....Just a thought.
Nyssa
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as a chinese i know the situation of bear very well.the issue is how to find the substitute drug to the bear bile and how to bring the problem to the international community attention and pressure to the china goverment so that thay can make a fast action. if you need more infomation and help please send to freemanzhou@yahoo.com
I have read your article on bear bile farming in China and understand your concerns. An animal charity (I think it was the WWF) is campaining against it. It would be a good idea to contact them.
I live in Brisbane, Australia and am also really concerned about the plight of bears.
I thought I'd suggest that you contact the International fund for Animal Welfare. They usually have ideas on these types of things and I am sure that it was this organisation that first bought this to my attention.
Keep me posted. This is a biggie for me! It's not only bears.
The discussion has become quite contorted and ended up on vegetarism/treatment of animals, so i've changed thread.
I agree that all animals are the same, irrespective of their physical appearance. So a great dane is equivalent to a pig which is equivalent to a tiger. However, I think we need to remember that the vegetarian view is that no animal should suffer/be killed for food - not just those on the way to extinction.
From the point of view of a meat-eater, the one big difference that seems apparent to me is that in the "west" herbivores (omnivores?) mostly seem to be eaten, while in the far-east carnivores too are eaten.
I agree that the important difference is that one is nearly extinct and .. well .. it's not that simple. Let's approach it another way.
There are a few general truths that I think vegetarians and non can all agree on:
1. Animals should always be treated with respect for their nature etc- this automatically means that the "meat industry" is not acceptable because the animals are kept in an "unnatural" environment, fed unnaturally etc.
I broke off above when I mentioned extinction because its not that simple. How many species of "pig" are on the way to extinction due to the requirements of the mass-meat industry that only wants a certain kind ? Should we re-instate these animals in their "wild" state like the tigers? Why only wild tigers?? And what about what we're doing to dogs? Only special breeds?? what about their right to bio-diversify?
2. Animals should be killed in as humane a way as possible. I think when a living being enters a state of shock they do not feel pain, so possibly the way of killing animals using electric shock is not cruel - the trembling might be a physical reaction (we can discuss this more if you like!)
I'd like to add a personal view here if i may. I once read a story of a man who came near to being killed by a tiger, he recounts how in the jaws of the tiger, due to the state of shock, he felt nothing. I have noticed too, with our hens, how when they are attacked by a dog or fox, first - they are "hypnotized", and secondly - seem to die from the shock itself. We have recovered hens that have been dropped by the dog which have no wound - but have literally died from the experience. I think this is a very interesting issue, and perhaps needs to be paid more attention. As i believe that nature is often kinder than we think, it could be that at the moment of death, the senses are often lacking. Which is why i consider the use of "shock" perhaps the most natural (and humane) way to kill a living being. Slitting the throat of an animal why it is still fully conscious is perhaps one of the worse ways, as is burning it alive etc etc. All methods used today, irrespective of by whom, need to be looked at and evaluated. When your mother slit the neck of the duck it was with respect and, on a one-to-one basis, as occurs in nature. I personally believe, if you're willing to get your hands bloody and clean the animal yourself, and then you still feel like eating it -well, ok. I often am not able to eat the chicken I produce in this way - so that's my problem. Perhaps one day my desire to eat chicken will be sufficiently strong to overcome these feelings. At least i will be taking the responsibility for my meat-eating wishes and not expecting someone else to do the dirty work for me. I will also have a different view of the value of that chicken too, knowing its cost.
Meat-eating exists in nature so, for me, in the terms expressed above, it's ok. The only thing I would add, however, is that non-vegetarians need to be aware that vegetarians and vegans might find this type of discussion disturbing and, for this reason, we should show due concern. For them, clearly, all animals are equivalent, and to see any animal killed (especially in a long drawn-out tortured way) is particularly horrifying. I don't believe they just complain about the kitten being strangled in a shop in China, i believe they complain about the animals being killed on the road in their own countries too. We need to make the distinction between veggies and non-veggies, it seems to me. The vegetarians arent being hypocritical as they are against the killing of any animal for food - that includes whales, cats, dogs, cows ..
The discussion has become quite contorted and ended up on vegetarism/treatment of animals, so i've changed thread.
I agree that all animals are the same, irrespective of their physical appearance. So a great dane is equivalent to a pig which is equivalent to a tiger. However, I think we need to remember that the vegetarian view is that no animal should suffer/be killed for food - not just those on the way to extinction.
From the point of view of a meat-eater, the one big difference that seems apparent to me is that in the "west" herbivores (omnivores?) mostly seem to be eaten, while in the far-east carnivores too are eaten.
I agree that the important difference is that one is nearly extinct and .. well .. it's not that simple. Let's approach it another way.
There are a few general truths that I think vegetarians and non can all agree on:
1. Animals should always be treated with respect for their nature etc- this automatically means that the "meat industry" is not acceptable because the animals are kept in an "unnatural" environment, fed unnaturally etc.
I broke off above when I mentioned extinction because its not that simple. How many species of "pig" are on the way to extinction due to the requirements of the mass-meat industry that only wants a certain kind ? Should we re-instate these animals in their "wild" state like the tigers? Why only wild tigers?? And what about what we're doing to dogs? Only special breeds?? what about their right to bio-diversify?
2. Animals should be killed in as humane a way as possible. I think when a living being enters a state of shock they do not feel pain, so possibly the way of killing animals using electric shock is not cruel - the trembling might be a physical reaction (we can discuss this more if you like!)
I'd like to add a personal view here if i may. I once read a story of a man who came near to being killed by a tiger, he recounts how in the jaws of the tiger, due to the state of shock, he felt nothing. I have noticed too, with our hens, how when they are attacked by a dog or fox, first - they are "hypnotized", and secondly - seem to die from the shock itself. We have recovered hens that have been dropped by the dog which have no wound - but have literally died from the experience. I think this is a very interesting issue, and perhaps needs to be paid more attention. As i believe that nature is often kinder than we think, it could be that at the moment of death, the senses are often lacking. Which is why i consider the use of "shock" perhaps the most natural (and humane) way to kill a living being. Slitting the throat of an animal why it is still fully conscious is perhaps one of the worse ways, as is burning it alive etc etc. All methods used today, irrespective of by whom, need to be looked at and evaluated. When your mother slit the neck of the duck it was with respect and, on a one-to-one basis, as occurs in nature. I personally believe, if you're willing to get your hands bloody and clean the animal yourself, and then you still feel like eating it -well, ok. I often am not able to eat the chicken I produce in this way - so that's my problem. Perhaps one day my desire to eat chicken will be sufficiently strong to overcome these feelings. At least i will be taking the responsibility for my meat-eating wishes and not expecting someone else to do the dirty work for me. I will also have a different view of the value of that chicken too, knowing its cost. On these terms, I can accept meat-eating. Fish is a little more difficult. Suffocating to death. Well, don't know.
Meat-eating exists in nature so, for me, its natural. The only thing I would add, however, is that non-vegetarians need to be aware that some people (vegetarians and vegans) might find this type of discussion disturbing and, for this reason, we should show due concern. For them, clearly, all animals are equivalent, and to see any animal killed in a cruel way is particularly horrifying. I don't believe they just complain about the kitten being strangled in a shop in China, i believe they complain about the animals being killed in their own countries too.
The Fine Print: Comments and articles posted on this website
are owned by the person who posted them and do not necessarily represent
the views of Greenpeace.
