Case Study on International Bear Farm Transformation | CBCGDF BASE

Black bears are widely distributed across the eastern part of the Eurasian continent, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other regions. The industry of bile extraction from live bears once spread across several Asian countries. Biological and Scientific Ethics Working Committee (BASE) of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) has selected several cases and by understanding which provide certain ideas for the direction of transformation of bear farms.

 

1.The Moon Bear Rescue Center by Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV)

The Moon Bear Rescue Center has been dedicated to liberating captive bears and ending the bear bile industry in Vietnam. Through collaboration with local social organizations, the Vietnamese government, and law enforcement agencies, the center has microchipped all captive bears in Vietnam, monitoring bear farms for long-term analysis of violations to ensure that bile extraction or acquisition of new bears does not occur. The organization also works with the government, schools, and media to convey the message of rescuing captive bears and encourages bear farmers to voluntarily transfer their bears to the rescue center. However, it is important to note that the number of captive bears in Vietnam is much lower than in our country, so when referring to this plan, the difference in scale between our bear farms and those in Vietnam should be considered.

 

2.The American Bear Association Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary

Although not transformed from a bear farm, the measures this sanctuary takes to resolve human-bear conflicts are still worth learning from. The organization attracts families, students, and researchers to the sanctuary, allowing them to observe black bears living in their natural habitat at a close distance. This approach helps raise funds to better protect the bears' habitat. For instance, the sanctuary offers various paid photography workshops for enthusiasts, assisting them in capturing excellent photos of the bears' natural lives from the right locations. Additionally, visitors can stay in houses or camp within the bear activity area, learning and experiencing coexistence with black bears in the same region. This teaches necessary bear prevention measures, such as identifying bear activity signs, reducing odors to avoid attracting bears, and how to avoid harm during encounters, thereby reducing excessive fear of bears.

For domestic bear farms with a larger number of black bears, establishing a similar bear sanctuary in the future to help black bears coexist harmoniously with human communities may be a feasible method.

 

3. Appalachian Bear Rescue, a non-profit, tax-exempt black bear rescue organization from the United States.

This organization provides assistance to orphaned and injured black bear cubs, helping them return to their natural habitats. When establishing the rescue area, the organization uses fences several feet underground to prevent bears from digging tunnels to leave the rescue area. On this basis, they continuously improve the facilities in the rescue area to meet the climatic and activity needs of black bears at different stages of life, and provide a specialized rehabilitation center for injured bear cubs.

Furthermore, the organization has established a separate visitor and educational center from the rescue center to raise funds. The center displays the history and current rescue situations of the organization, helping visitors to better understand black bears.

It should be emphasized that, to avoid violating animal ethics principles, the visitor center does not display live bears, and the rescue organization is not open to the public.

The characteristics of this case are based on the local situation of a large number of injured bear cubs, and it continues to improve and seek cooperation with all sectors to ensure the long-term and stable operation of the rescue organization. For the current issue of bear farm transformation in our country, we can also refer to this kind of experience, and specifically look for ways to help bears that have been long-term caged and subjected to bile extraction to return to nature.

 

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-bhA-S4gsm1Ep8uOfEpM2w

Translator: Sara

Checked by: Richard

Editor: Sara    

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

Contribution

Do you know? We rely on crowd-funding and donations. You have the opportunity to help an international movement to advance biodiversity conservation. Donate TODAY to power up the movement to make it a better world for all life.

Donation(501C3)Paypal: intl@wbag.org

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=2EYYJJZ8CGPLE