Asiatic Black Bear (Moon Bear) Conservation

In Asia, the Asiatic Black Bear (called Moon Bears because of the golden crescent shape across their chest) are poached for traditional medicine (mainly bile from their gallbladder) and food (meat and paws).

A high proportion of the users and consumers of these bear products live in China. But NZ Customs confirm that bear bile is being illegally brought into New Zealand for the local black market.

Killing bears for their gallbladder and paws dates back at least 2000 – 3000 years in China. Although four species of bears exist in China – brown bear, Asiatic black bear, sun bear and giant panda, the gallbladders of Asiatic black bears are the most heavily sought for Chinese traditional medicine.

In the 1980s the Chinese Government adopted the Korean practice of bear bile farming to more easily satisfy the market for bile products.

These endangered bears are kept in cages no bigger than their own bodies for up to a quarter of a century. Unable to stand up or even turn over, the bears have a steel catheter punched into their abdomen or a crude fistula cut into their gallbladder from which bile is milked two to three times per day.

The majority of farms source their bears by poaching them in the wild. The bears are caught in leg-hold traps, often resulting in paws or entire limbs being ripped off. Wild bile is considered more valuable than farmed bile so bears are also killed for their gallbladder.

• Asiatic black bears are one of eight bear species in the world and are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Appendix I – The most critical category of endangerment. This listing means that no international trade in either live moon bears or any of their parts is allowed.
• Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List
• Under Class 2 of China’s wildlife protection law

There are currently no official statistics to support actual numbers of Asiatic black bears. However population figures for moon bears in China are causing concern with varying estimates – the most common one being around 16,000 bears remaining in the wild across Asia.

The exact number of bears on farms is not known although the last official figure given by the Chinese Government was 7,002. Animals Asia suspects the figure may actually exceed 9,000 or even 10,000. There are another 4,000 bears in captivity in Vietnam. Animals Asia is helping to fund an important study into the population of wild Asiatic black bears (moon bears) in Sichuan Province, China.

Anecdotal evidence (from Chinese villagers) reports that the bear population is declining and villagers identify poaching as the most common cause. The natural Moon Bear population is disappearing rapidly as bear bile farming is allowed to continue.