(
Bear - Bile Farming - 10)
In recent years Chinese bear farmers have introduced a new
and so-called humane, "free-dripping" method of bile extraction. This method
uses no catheter, but sees a permanent hole, or fistula, cruelly carved into
the bear's abdomen and gall bladder, from which bile "freely drips" out.
During this type of bile extraction, the bears undergo the same treatment as
the metal catheter method of extraction - they are tempted by food or honey
water to lie on the bottom of the cage, whilst the farmer forces an
unhygienic tube into the gall bladder which breaks the membrane that has
grown over the hole, and allows bile to flow directly into a bowl placed
beneath. The damage caused by bile leaking back into the abdomen, together
with infection from the permanently open hole is as bad, if not worse, than
the older style methods and causes a high mortality rate on the farms.