Rescued 2 moon bears imprisoned for 17 years in the dark on a bile farm

Two moon bears rescued from an illegal bile farm in Vietnam. They were kept in a basement with no light

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

Two Asiatic black bears were rescued after spending 17 years caged in a dark basement. There they were imprisoned for the purpose of extracting their precious bile, a remedy of traditional Asian medicine still in vogue. In theory, "bile farms" are illegal in Vietnam but unfortunately, as the story of these two bears testifies, they continue to exist.

Two Tibetan bears, also known as moon bears, were imprisoned on a farm in Son La in Vietnam, locked away in the dark in a basement, seeing light (and only artificial) when undergoing the painful procedures to extract bile.

Fortunately, the two bears, a male named Xuan and a female named Mo, have now been rescued by volunteers from Four Paws, the world animal welfare organization. Those who freed them were shocked by the conditions in which the bears were kept.

The conditions, described as the worst they have ever seen, predicted total darkness for the two animals, confined in rusty and dirty cages with no access to fresh air and with very little ventilation reaching the windowless basement. They had no stimuli and were fed only rotten fruit to barely keep them alive.

A real horror, which lasted for tens of years! Xuan is thought to have been imprisoned since 2004, when he was just a cub, but it is not known exactly how long the female was imprisoned.

After their rescue, the bears were sedated and examined. Both have gallbladder disease, caused by the horrific practice of extracting bile, and Xuan is also underweight and has liver disease, as well as losing several teeth, probably gnawing on the bars of his cage in a vain attempt to escape.

The vet who examined them, Szilvia Kalogeropoulu, said they both have a long way to go back to health.

Fortunately, they have already arrived at the Ninh Binh Bear sanctuary, where 40 other bears live who, like them, were rescued from the cruel bile-mining farms, which is legal in China but has been banned in Vietnam.

Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid, which has some proven effects on gallstones and liver disease, but a synthetic version has been available for decades. Despite this, demand for the natural version is still high and around 10.000 bears are thought to be prisoners in China, while nearly 400 more would be illegally detained in Vietnam.

Unfortunately, among other things, this remedy was back in vogue even during the pandemic and the Chinese government even recommended bear bile injections against the coronavirus.

Fonte: FOUR PAWS International