The cruelty of the bear farming industry was exposed to the Chinese people on an unprecedented scale in February 2012, with the issue dominating headlines for weeks. The reaction from the public was of overwhelming opposition to this barbaric industry.

Although no longer the dominant topic of public interest, bear bile farming continues to attract opposition and the campaign to end bear farming continues.

Superstar Sun Li encourages people to say no to bear bile use as part of our new public awareness campaign in China. (right)

Background

As information about the bear bile industry poured into the public domain, Animals Asia, as the most prominent group working to end bear bile farming in China, featured in over 8,300 Chinese-language press articles in February alone.

There was also widespread coverage on radio and TV, including a report on the Chinese government’s TV network, CCTV on a show of similar format and popularity to the United States’ “60 minutes”. Animals Asia was interviewed extensively.

With March came China’s annual National People’s Congress meetings. During this time, the media emphasises news that focuses on economic growth, and the concept of a “harmonious society”. Topics like bear bile farming, which highlight disagreements and divisions, take a backseat.

What now?

Now that bear farming has become such a prominent and widely discussed issue, the campaign will continue with renewed vigour in the coming months: 

• Animals Asia is working to keep the issue in the headlines and in the minds of the Chinese public and leaders.
• We have just launched a nationwide public awareness campaign, beginning with billboards and displays in major cities. It will take time and effort to continue to press for an end to bear bile farming, but the recent wave of publicity has brought us closer than ever before.
• Animals Asia is now calling on supporters around the world to show their support for the Chinese people, who have shown their opposition to bear farming and want it to end. We have produced a simple message to be sent to local embassies to show that the international community stands with the Chinese people.

Public support

Beijing's seven star Pangu Hotel, hosts two huge screens supporting the awareness campaign. The hotel is located close to the Bird's Nest stadium, home of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, with a high volume of traffic. These enormous screens rotate between our two superstar supporters, Sun Li and Karen Mok, both calling for an end to bear bile farming.

Get involved

You can lend your support to the call within China to end bear farming:

Email your local Chinese Embassy to convey the following message of support:

For North America, please use the Contact us feature on one of the China embassy websites as the general email address is not valid.

In recent months, it has been exciting to see reports of people all across China showing their opposition to bear bile farming. Bear bile farming is not only cruel, it is also unsafe. Farmed bears have open wounds into their gall bladders, which are permanently infected and never heal. Every drop of bile is collected from these sick bears and sold on to consumers. I stand behind the people of China and support them in calling for bear farming to end.

Sign our online petition, which will be forwarded to the relevant authorities.

 

BACK