Mother bear kills cub and then itself

[tripsis]

Mother bear kills cub and then itself

AsiaOne

Friday, Aug 05, 2011

The Chinese media has reported on an extraordinary account of a mother bear saving her cub from a life of torture by strangling it and then killing itself.

The bears were kept in a farm located in a remote area in the North-West of China. The bears on the farm had their gall bladders milked daily for 'bear bile,' which is used as a remedy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

It was reported that the bears are kept in tiny cages known as 'crush cages', as the bears have no room to manoeuvre and are literally crushed.

The bile is harvested by making a permanent hole or fistula in the bears' abdomen and gall bladder.

As the hole is never closed, the animals are suspect to various infections and diseases including tumours, cancers and death from peritonitis.

The bears are fitted with an iron vest, as they often try to kill themselves by hitting their stomach as they are unable to bear the pain.

A person who was on the farm in place of a friend witnessed the procedures and told Reminbao.com that they were inhumane.

The witness also claimed that a mother bear broke out its cage when it heard its cub howl in fear before a worker punctured its stomach to milk the bile.

The workers ran away in fear when they saw the mother bear rushing to its cub's side.

Unable to free the cub from its restraints, the mother hugged the cub and eventually strangled it.

It then dropped the cub and ran head-first into a wall, killing itself.

Many TCM practitioners have denounced the use of bear bile in their treatment as there are cheaper herbs and synthetics that can be used in its place.

Bear bile is traditionally used to remove 'heat' from the body as well as treat high fever, liver ailments and sore eyes.

Source.

See the actual article if you want to see more photos...

[ThunderIdeal]

so fucking wrong, to keep a creature in agonising pain like that. if i am the source of the universe and i suspect that i am, i might have included a causality layer so that greatly uncaring personalities can experience what they have done to others, eg i suspect this medicine includes a karmic surprise.

[incognito]

humans can be so cruel. sad stuff.

[hypnotoad]

Makes me want to get all Rambo on the chinese.

[ThunderIdeal]

i wonder if it's like somebody said before, suddenly the media is demonising china because of what's happening with the economy.

torture is extremely offensive to westerners but don't forget that european nations were doing it openly not too long ago and among the western nations one is certain to be regularly torturing humans and that's the united states.

saying fuck the chinese is just ignorant. the thing i wonder about is what kind of environment causes people to be like this. is it just a threshold where you ignore your conscience enough and suddenly you think "i'm okay with this"? they say that violent psychopaths often torture animals when growing up.

[Teotzlcoatl]

Fuck people who do this to bears (who happen to be Chinese)!

[incognito]

meh people are still desexing lambs with their teeth out here in the bush in australia.

[tripsis]

It was the Chinese media that reported this TI, so I don't think your idea holds water.

Incog, that attitude is fucked. One wrong doing does not justify another.

[incognito]

im not saying its not wrong. im saying that australia isnt exactly guilt free when it comes to animal cruelty. i dont agree with neither. and protest it when i come across farmers who still use the practice. they say it saves time. i say besides the cruelty aspect how can u put a lambs nuts in ur mouth. im against unnecessary cruelty of any form.

another horrible act that occurs out here is the "blooding" of pig dog pups. this happens where a hunter holds generall a sow without tusks by the back legs, where she cant bite him, and gets the young pig dogs to basically tear the sow apart. this is not a slow death. theres pictures of it all over facebook. i guess the moral of the story is, dont hate on the chinese in such a broad term, where animal cruelty is systemic in our own country.

i really dont get it, the fuss that goes on about cane toad cruelty, where feral pigs are tortured to death on a weekly basis.

whats required is an "ethical culling of feral pig party" the "good" piggers i know tell me some horrible stuff. some pigs they kill have been horrifically mutilated and let live, they find pigs with gunshot wounds all the time. they find sows that have been part gutted and allowed to run away for the enjoyment of the hunters. these guys clean kill, and track whatever they have wounded to finish. they are proffesional and ethical. its the "weekend warriors" who go out hunting drunk, often causing damage to bushland, themselves, their dogs, not to mention the fact that what they are after is not a clean kill.

thos bile farms are absolutely horrific. if u want i can go into what they do to brumbies and feral goats out here but my stomach is churned enough.

it seems primates in general have an ability to find enjoyment in causing unnecessary pain and suffering. i mean watch a chimpanzee doco if u think humans are barbaric.

Edited August 14, 2011 by incognito

[Teotzlcoatl]

I would like to see some kind of implementation of a "humanely treated" certification for animals which are raised under conditions which are low in stress, life is ended very quickly, no torture, good foods for the animals, etc.

It would be a type of optional certification like organic or kosher (buy these if you want to avoid supporting people who hurt animals, factory farming, etc.)

[incognito]

there would be considerable costs involved in such practices, i.e anaesthesia for desexing etc. such a cost would be hard for farmers to cover, i mean many farmers struggle to make ends meet as it is. perhaps funds could be provided by gov or other means??

[OpticalLight]

There's a moon bear rescue in China which people can support by way of $$ donations.

They rescue and rehabilitate bile bears, and then house them for the remainder of their lives; I think the bears have a life span of around 30 years or so.

The sanctuary was founded by an English lady named Jill Robinson who now lives over in China.

Animals Asia

[Slybacon]

It was the Chinese media that reported this TI, so I don't think your idea holds water.

Incog, that attitude is fucked. One wrong doing does not justify another.

 

Oh , its from the Chinese media..... well then I guess its not propaganda. Carry on......

[incognito]

i think its unfortunate what is happening with these bears. sad stuff. unfortunately its only the cute and cuddly creatures that are ver deemed worthy of protest.

[OpticalLight]

if u want i can go into what they do to brumbies and feral goats out here but my stomach is churned enough.

 

What do they do to the brumbies and feral goats....?

[ThunderIdeal]

i think its unfortunate what is happening with these bears. sad stuff. unfortunately its only the cute and cuddly creatures that are ver deemed worthy of protest.

 

i speculate mammals and birds suffer the most and most people would probably agree. there are probably exceptions. cute or nasty i reckon higher vertebrates get more priority.

it seems primates in general have an ability to find enjoyment in causing unnecessary pain and suffering. i mean watch a chimpanzee doco if u think humans are barbaric.

 

it's true. can't deny that being cruel is a thrill, but hopefully ones conscience or call it empathy, compassion, whatever, develops to the point where cruelty is unpleasant to witness and certainly to act out. various things like oxytocin would play a role eg why women are often caring/empathising to a higher degree, but i don't think hormones make me avoid cruelty it's my mind which understands that other animals experience the same kind of things i do.

it may or may not be that chimps got a dopamine boost and humans got even more, but there's at least one shining example of friendly apes, the bonobo. they're not big on hunting (were thought not to hunt) and they settle all bonobo disputes with sex and it improves their mood and relations. that's an idea that would have any monkey or ape scratching where they don't have a chin.

[tripsis]

Yeah Sly, I wouldn't take your word for anything. Prove to me it's propaganda.

Incog, I hear you, but this thread need not be a China bashing thread. It cannot be denied that bile farms are cruel and seeing as they happen to be in China, the Chinese are answerable to the criticisms they receive. I know that ample cruelty exists in farms here and the world over, which is why I don't eat meat. It's not only the Chinese, but the sort of cruelty that exists is bile farms is sickening.

The cruelty perpetrated by chimpanzees does not justify our actions. We know when we are being cruel, thus we should know better than to be cruel.

As for the cute and cuddlies, humans can sympathise more with mammals than amphibians and with birds more than reptiles. I don't agree with it, but that's the way it is. It's why so many so-called 'vegetarians' eat fish, because they barely relate to them as animals.

Edited August 14, 2011 by tripsis

[tripsis]

Double post.

Edited August 14, 2011 by tripsis

[Seldom]

really gives an appreciation of how difficult it is to see from the perspective of a culture so different, how does a person think "feeling a bit off, maybe what i need is some infected stomach bile extracted from the slow, horrendously painful suffering of a sentient creature". What is it from the Chinese perspective which makes doing that legitimate?

[incognito]

i speculate mammals and birds suffer the most and most people would probably agree. there are probably exceptions. cute or nasty i reckon higher vertebrates get more priority.

thats the part of animal welfare cant understand.

[Slybacon]

Yeah Sly, I wouldn't take your word for anything. Prove to me it's propaganda.

 

Nice one. (edited). I never said it was propaganda, your logic of, "its from chinese media so TI theory s Bunk" is just (edited). You need to keep an open mind. Prove to me that this heart tugging story isn't (edited)

(edited)

Edit> Post edited to remove nasty tone and insults. Although I still hold the same opinion, my state of mind at the time has lead to more nastiness than was needed. Peace

Edited August 15, 2011 by Slybacon

[tripsis]

You implied it was propaganda Bacon, you didn't have to state it outright. With that said, I'm not getting into a argument with you.

Edited August 14, 2011 by tripsis

[Slybacon]

^^^ Just to set the record straight. It was implied earlier in the thread that it was Chinese bashing propaganda with political appropriate timing and your logic behind debunking that idea was clear. Backing down is probably the best move for you Tripsis.....

[tripsis]

Don't hide behind someone else having claimed it first, you still implied it yourself. Seeing as you're such a firm proponent of conspiracy theories, including, apparently, that virtually every piece of media is propaganda, why don't you provide us with some proof? You're always keen to discredit, including this article, so show some evidence of it being propaganda if you can.

[Slybacon]

Even if the story is true, I don't have to provide proof of the axiom that it IS politically well timed. It is most probably dug up from archives. Why would you discount this as a likely possibility?

Edited August 14, 2011 by Slybacon