Press Releases BCMA

BCMA call to end animal suffering in China

The British Complementary Medicine Association is horrified that animal suffering and abuse still continues in our 21st Century society. The BCMA does not condone in any way the cruel and degrading method of extracting bile from bears for use in commercial products. It calls for an immediate end to the barbaric 'Bile Farms' currently operating in China.

The BCMA asks the Chinese Government for compassion. Today some 10,000 bears are kept prisoner for the extraction of bile from their gall bladders. The bears are forced to lay in a horizontal position in cages that look like coffins. They wear a metal collar and are held down by pressure bars. A catheter is introduced into their body that continuously absorbs the liquid bile from their gall bladders.

This cruelty and torture cannot be allowed to continue and be part of the life of these unfortunate bears any longer. With their paws they take food through a small opening in the cage. To quench their thirst they must stretch their  tongue to lick the bars of their prison. They suffer months of continuous, excruciating pain and are pinned down in the same position for an average of 15 years which deforms their bones.

During the extraction of the liquid, a tube is inserted in the gall bladder. The other end stays outside the belly of the bear and is linked to a machine that sucks out the bile. The suffering of the animal exceeds the imagination and the bear mutilates itself in an attempt to end its misery. The bile serves a disgusting market, being used to produce shampoos and so-called 'miraculous remedies'.

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