#bear bile farming

[bearotonin-international]

hello friends. it's occured to me that I've never seen a moon bear cub. I can ask Google but I'd rather direct internet traffic to my favorite bear blog. do you have baby moon bears? if you don't, any bear cubs will satisfy the yearning in my soul for cute baby bears. thank you! te amo mucho.

We do friend, we do indeed

[legalizegoblins]

What's the best bear conservation charity to donate to, if any?

I have three answers! There are lots of orgs doing important work! 1: The Katmai Conservancy. They are responsible for the fundraising to protect Katmai National Park, where the bear cams are situated. They also sell bear cam merch to raise money, and some of it is super cute. 2: Polar Bears International. They're a critical org for polar bear research and conservation and do a lot of on-the-ground conservation work, like developing new technologies to monitor bears and learn more about their ecological needs in the face of climate change. 3: Animals Asia Foundation. They rescue Asian black bears (AKA moon bears) that are kept in captivity for bile farming, a horrendously abusive industry that keeps bears in small cages for life. AAF both rescues bears and works to end bile farming entirely through political advocacy and education around ending demand. Thanks for asking! All three orgs are reputable and deserve your support!

[devoted1989]

animals killed because of irrational beliefs

According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional medicines. This is despite traditional medicines having no scientific evidence to prove their claims and having no real medical value.

Chinese medicine is the most widely practiced traditional medicine, although there are other traditional medicines used in other cultures worldwide which also involve animal cruelty.

The rarity of a creature does not protect it from being killed in the name of “medicine”; it just raises the market price.

“More than 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans originated in animals, one study says. And more than 70 percent of those animal-originated diseases, known as zoonotic diseases, come from wild animals”.

TCM uses approximately 1,000 plant and 36 animal species, including the tiger, rhinoceros, black bear, musk deer, and sea horse; the tiger, rhinoceros, and sea horse are endangered.

These are some of the animals that are killed in the name of tradition and/ or irrational beliefs.

tigers

Owing to the numerous superstitious beliefs associated with them, tiger parts are in great demand. The tiger, which is considered a symbol of strength, is one of the most sought after animals in traditional Chinese medicine.

Western medical experts tend to discount all claims of any curative power

Chinese medicine stores do a steady trade in tiger wines, powder, tiger balms and tiger pills in Chinatowns around the world.

The demand for tigers for use as TCM in China is so high that there are tiger farms where they are specially bred for this purpose

Unabated poaching has already resulted in the extinction of three of the nine tiger subspecies, while the remaining six are considered endangered.

asian black bears

Bear bile is a digestive juice that is stored in the bear's gallbladder. It is obtained--or milked - by planting a permanent surgical tube in the bear's stomach. The process is very painful  and adds to the trauma of being confined in a in a small cage – a crush cage – where he is unable to move around - for most of his/ her life.

There are alternatives to the bile, but the Chinese medicine industry believes consumers prefer the real thing, which means the bile trade is lucrative.

Living for 10–12 years under such circumstances results in severe mental stress and muscle atrophy.  World Animal Protection sent researchers to 11 bile farms They reported seeing bears moaning, banging their heads against their cages, and chewing their own paws (autophagia).

Today more than 12,000 bears are believed to kept on bear bile farms in China and Vietnam. Sun bears, and moon bears are often used for their bile, 

the rhinoceros

Poaching is predominantly driven by the illegal trade in rhino horn attributed to the demand for rhino horn in Asian countries, mainly Vietnam and China. Although rhino horn has no scientific medical benefits, consumers use it to treat a wide range of conditions. Due to its high value it is also used as a status symbol by wealthy individuals.

In some regions, rhino horn is marketed as an aphrodisiac, and in some, it is considered an antidote for poison.

musk deer

Another animal valued in traditional Chinese medicine is the musk deer. Musk is the aromatic substance from which these species derive their name. It has traditionally been used for the treatment of various ailments, from skin infection and stomach ache to heart-related ailments. It is also prized in the perfume industry. The substance is obtained from the musk-producing glands (pods) of adult males.

The international demand for musk is so high, that China alone cannot meet it. Countries like Russia and Mongolia have joined in the large-scale culling of this species

sharks

Shark cartilage is widely used for the treatment of cancer and osteoarthritis despite the fact that there is no concrete evidence to suggest the same. Thousands of sharks are killed for their cartilage, i.e., the bony structure, which is eventually sold in the form of powder or pills.

The fins are also believed to cure osteoarthritis.

Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark's fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks either starve to death, are eaten alive by other fish, or drown.

Cobras

In the Southeast Asia and the Middle East, cobra species are popular among snake charmers who make money by performing snake shows. An even crueller festival occurs in India every year - The snake festival of India, Nāg Panchamī.

On this day, hundreds of snakes are subjected to intense trauma under the pretext of worship. It is a common ritual to offer milk to the cobra as a part of the worship. The snake charmers keep the snakes without water for a number of days before the festival and when these dehydrated snakes are offered milk, they drink it readily. Milk is not a part of their diet, so when they do drink it, it affects their digestive system and--in most of the cases--causes their death.

As a precautionary measure, these snakes are defanged by the snake charmers, which again leaves them vulnerable to numerous threats.

water buffaloes

There may be only a few thousand wild water buffaloes in existence.

The water buffalo is sacrificed for traditional beliefs. It is believed that sacrificing a buffalo to the deity brings about prosperity, luck, and even rain. Animal slaughter--in the garb of religious and cultural traditions--is carried out in many parts of the world, though the occurrence is relatively more rampant in Asia and Africa.

seahorse

The seahorse has been a feature of TCM for centuries. Today approximately 90 health and medicine products containing seahorses are sold in China and elsewhere.

chinese alligator

This small, freshwater crocodilian species now numbers fewer than 200. Dam building, has devastated the alligator population, but hunting has also taken a toll. Alligator meat is promoted as a way to cure the common cold and to prevent cancer, and alligator organs are also said to have medicinal properties.

hawksbill sea turtle

Poachers hunt hawksbills for a number of reasons, including for their shells, which have been distributed worldwide as travel souvenirs and incorporated into jewellery and other decorative items and for their oil, whose use in traditional medicine has increased in recent years. Bans on trading turtle products and various sting operations have achieved limited success in stopping the species’ decline. cats & dogs

There is much more animal abuse associated CTM such as the horrific cat and dog meat trade, where cats and dogs are skinned and boiled alive after being kept in appalling conditions and treated despicably.Dog eating is traditional in China, and according to folklore eating the meat during the summer months brings luck and good health. Some also believe dog meat can ward off diseases and heighten men's sexual performance.

asian elephant

Asian elephants were once thought to be relatively immune to poaching—unlike their African relatives, only some males, instead of all adults, have ivory tusks—but that is not true. The animals are killed for their meat, hide, tusks and other body parts.

Advocacy Britannica, The Smithsonian Animal Rights Action, WWF, Save the Rhino, WESSA (the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) and Poaching Facts.

[jovialtorchlight]

i am not a good poet. 

i have to force poems out of my stomach 

and cut days open to find the words hiding in each moment.

 why are words so elusive? tried to kill myself in June. why won't the healing come? why do i stare at these empty hours like i stare at a blank screen?

i want the carnival to come to town.

i want an endless mystery, i want to believe the lines etched into my palm. i want aliens to exist, i want to walk in a haunted

house and commune with the spirits. i don’t want sun bears to be farmed for bile. i don’t want to have a cell phone.

 i want something to happen. i want to pick up a hitchhiker. i want to lock myself in a room and have a tantrum. i want to love others. i don’t want being alive to be a question.

today, i want something weird and wonderful.

 instead, another blocked call from collections.

 another walmart parking lot bursting with cars. 

another fuckup to add to the endless weave and thread of mistakes. 

[jojobegood1]

Happy Ending: Three Bears Rescued From Bile Farm

👍🏻👏👏👏👏💐 À SOUTENIR SVP

[rune-writes]

Ash Like Snow

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Word count: 2367

Rating: G

Summary: Nayra has never seen snow. Her friend once describe it to her as "white little flakes falling from the sky. Like frozen rain, except softer". But now the moon has cracked, its pieces piercing the land which results in thick waves of aether that renders the realm nigh unlivable. Nayra stands at the precipice of this new world as ash rains around her. It looks like snow.

Read on AO3.

~*~*~*~*~

Ash fell from the sky. It looked like snow. 

Nayra covered her eyes and peered through the foliage. It had been a year since the calamity and yet the sun was still a pale smudge of what it once was. They said a thick layer of aether had enveloped the star’s atmosphere, distorting light and color to a sickly purplish glow that made her stomach turn. It turned now, driving Nayra to her knees as bile rose up her throat. 

The vomit didn’t come. What did come was a pounding headache threatening to split her head in two. 

Nayra… 

A faraway voice, faint and familiar, reaching forward in tendrils… 

Mother? 

A gasp tore out of her.

Nayra breathed, gulping large doses of air as her chest heaved with exertion. Sweat coated her brow and tears rolled down her eyes. Grass had never felt so soft before. But her arms quickly ached. Slowly, she rolled onto her back and dropped an arm over her eyes. Breathing. Just…breathing. In and out. Letting her lungs fill until her chest shuddered and she couldn’t take in another breath. 

***

The trek across Vylbrand was more taxing than she remembered. The sun beat down her back as she dragged one foot in front of the other up the sloping hills of La Noscea. The air was immensely fresher here. Salty wind brushed against her face, and in the distance, windmills turned in a steady rhythm. She spotted people working in the fields—yellow stalks amongst trees bearing apples and oranges. It was harvesting season, it seemed, judging from the carts lining the farm. But they were few; the yields weren’t much. 

One of the workers, having placed a crate of oranges on the cart, paused, wiping her brow and fanning herself when she noticed Nayra passing by. “Hey,” she called. Nayra stopped, looked around, then pointed at herself. “Yeah you. Come here.” Nayra did as she was told, albeit a little questioningly. “Had any breakfast yet? Or lunch, for that matter. The sun’s already quite high up.” 

“Not yet, no.”

“Here then.” The woman tossed her an orange, then two more. “We got a lot of them. Wouldn’t hurt to miss a couple.”

She said ‘a lot’, but a cursory glance told Nayra three barely-full crates were all it took to harvest their entire orchard. She couldn’t readily say no, even more so when her mouth watered, so she accepted, and said, “Thank you…”  But then her stomach churned at the thought of eating. 

The woman might have noted her discomfort because she then called for another to bring some bread and water. Nayra tried to refuse, said the oranges were more than enough and was already backing away when a Roegadyn twice her size appeared behind her and told her—or forced her, more likely—to sit on the cart. The bread and water arrived soon after and Nayra suddenly had a lavish meal laid out in front of her.

“Poor thing,” the woman said. She leaned against the wooden fence, looking Nayra up and down and giving a little tsk at the end. “You’re naught but skin and bones.”

“Eat up,” the roegadyn said. “There’s plenty of that where they come from.”

“I couldn’t…”

“Not sure how long you’ve been on the road,” he went on, “but least we could do is help each other in these uncertain times.” 

“Where’d you come from?” the woman asked. “We don’t see a lot of your kind here. Seekers, yes, but not Keepers.” She paused at Nayra’s silence. “The Shroud then?”

Nayra dropped her gaze. She could feel pity dropping on her like a stone when the woman spoke next:

“Sorry for your loss, deary. Heard it’s got the worst damage out of all of us.”

“Closest to the Flats, aye,” added the roegadyn. “An entire region wiped off the map.”

The woman shook her head. “Wonder if we’ll get our lives back,” she said. “La Noscea’s been spared the worst of it but we still got our scars. Crops’re dying left and right. Land hasn’t been the same.”

“Neither’s been the water. Ah, but don’t you worry your head, lass. Them folks at the smithy’s been handing out water distillers so yours should be as fresh as Fool Falls.” He nodded at the flask proudly like a father showing off his son. 

Nayra stared at the flask, then the oranges, then the bread. 

“You heading somewhere, lass?” the roegadyn asked. 

She finally broke the bread and took a small bite. “Nowhere,” she replied. 

***

Her family used to travel a lot. A traveling merchant, some called them. Her father, though born and raised in Thavnair, had spent a handful of his late teen years in Ul’dah where he’d learned to trade. Her mother, though, was a simple huntress from the Shroud, her tribe making its home deep in the western side near the mountains of Mor Dhona. They’d met and fallen in love and as traveling had always run deep in her parents’ veins, after they'd had her, they’d immediately set out for the road. 

Nayra would boast about all the places she’d been to. From the green mountains of Coerthas to the sprawling desert of Thanalan, the sparkling Silvertear Lake of Mor Dhona and fiery mountain of O’Ghomoro. La Noscea had been her favorite place to visit. Pirates and traders from all corners of the star merged and mingled in a city where cultures clashed and assimilated. Her heart had soared at the sight of open seas, and once, when she stood at the precipice of a jutting rock over a beach that glistened like gold, she’d spread her arms and wondered if she could fly. 

“Silly,” a friend used to say. “Of course you can’t fly. You have no wings.”

“What if you can fly without wings?”

“On an airship maybe. But they’re too expensive.”

Nayra frowned. She picked at the ghysahl green leaf and offered it to the chocobo chick, coaxing it to eat from her hand instead of Raha’s. It didn’t even glance at her. 

Raha chuckled. 

“Have you ever seen snow?” he suddenly asked. 

“No.”

“You might like it—those white little flakes falling from the sky. Like frozen rain, except softer.”

“Sounds cold.”

“But pretty.”

“And cold.” The chocobo chick had finished its meal. It took a step back then ruffled its feathers, which were red like his hair. Nayra grabbed a mimett gourd from their basket this time because the chick seemed to love it, but when Nayra held out her hand, it only looked at her, took a sniff, before yawning and moving away to join its mother at the stables. Nayra’s frown deepened. “Just like that little guy.”

Raha let out a chest-rumbling laugh. “If your travels bring you to Sharlayan one day, be they by air or sea, let me know so I can show you snow.”

***

She heard it before she felt it: a rumble from deep within the star. Nayra stopped in her tracks, hand shooting out to grab a nearby tree as the first quake hit the ground. O’Ghomoro was erupting. In the distance, beyond the verdant leaves and towering cliffs, smoke rose some hundred yalms tall. 

It ended soon after it began. Nayra waited for a few seconds longer, staying low near the ground until the quake ceased. When the beasts stopped their frantic escape, she knew it was safe to move. But the moment she rose to her feet, a hum pulsed across the forest that almost brought her back to her knees.

“Stop it…” She gritted her teeth. Her stomach turned; her eyes saw fire. 

The bleeding sky flashed across her mind. She remembered the flaming starshower; heard the screams that pierced her ears. When she'd reached where her tribe should have been, a giant inferno had engulfed every root and tree and stone and pebble.  

Light blinded her for a fraction of a second as Nayra’s eyes slowly peeled open. Her pupils flinched and contracted before they adjusted to the glare, her hand going up to cover her eyes. She waited until the nausea dissipated—until she could push herself to her feet where she swayed for a handful of moments before finally regaining her balance. The forest had returned to its usual noise as though nothing had happened and Nayra hadn’t collapsed for the second time that day. 

Aether sickness, they said. No few people had developed it after Bahamut laid waste to the continent, but sometimes Nayra wondered if she had the worst of it.

Thick clouds had gathered in the sky. But there was no thunder or wind. The air was hot and tasted like ash. Yet when the first gray flakes fell around her, it wasn’t her burning home that came to mind. It was that mundane morning when she’d crouched in front of a chocobo chick trying to feed it greens. 

Have you ever seen snow? 

Nayra frowned. Maybe, once upon a time, she had entertained the idea that ashes were snow. It was a passing thought which had earned a laugh from Raha. They were flakes and they were soft, except they were gray and hot to the touch. 

Nayra banished the thought away, adjusted her bag over her shoulder, and made to move. That’s when she heard it—a distant cry, faint and familiar:

Kweh!

Nayra stopped in her tracks, turned her head toward the source of the sound, and strained her ear to listen. Silence greeted her. She waited a couple more seconds but the only things she heard were the twittering birds and grazing animals. She scoffed at herself. There were no wild chocobos in Eorzea, let alone Vylbrand. Whatever she’d heard probably had a master and a home. She set to move, only to be stopped once again by a shrill cry, and somewhere deep inside her, she knew that if she didn’t go and see what it was, she’d regret it forever. So Nayra changed her course and headed deeper into the woods. 

It came from a collapsed building. Nayra spotted a pack of pelicans already closing in around it. A few yalms away lay a red chocobo carcass, its sides a gaping maw of where the scalekins had probably been feeding themselves. And now they’d set their sights on the cries of what Nayra assumed to be a chocobo chick's. 

Her bow was immediately in her hand, an arrow nocked and trained on one of the pelican's necks. She let the arrow fly. 

The pelican screeched. It bucked and reared and gave a frantic flap of its wings before tumbling down on its side. The second pelican whipped its head and in the span of less than a millisecond, it had directed its beaky face at Nayra. It lunged forward with a cry. 

One arrow hit its ankle, another to its chest. Nayra drew her dagger and, rushing forward, slashed at the giant bird’s neck. It fell to its knees, blood gushing out of its gaping wounds. Nayra watched its life slipping out. Its eyes grew dim, its beaks opened and closed in a last attempt to breathe. 

So weak, she thought of the pelicans’ dead bodies. They were nothing but skin and bones, looking for food which Nayra meant to save. How else could her frail form have bested two grown pelicans? 

She cleaned her dagger before shoving it in its sheath then pulled her arrows from the pelicans’ remains and stashed them in her quiver. Turning her gaze to the dead chocobo, she kneeled and offered what prayer she could. Whether or not the gods heard, she didn’t know, and didn’t quite care. It was a force of habit. Though Nayra had told herself she’d let these traditions go, a part of her found solace in it, and she hoped it'd find the chocobo too.

Getting back on her feet, Nayra trained her eyes on the pile of wooden logs beyond the dead pelicans. It had probably been a hunter’s shack once upon a time, long unused ever since the calamity took its toll on the island. How there was a chocobo out here in the wild was beyond her. Maybe the hunter had died, leaving his chocobos behind. Maybe he’d forgotten them when he made a run for it. 

Truth be told, it didn’t matter. The crying, which had stopped during the fight, now resumed, as though the chick knew help had come. 

Nayra stepped over the pelicans and headed over to the shack. She dropped to her knees and began clearing away the wood. One by one, lifting and tossing with all the strength she could muster, until finally the final log was out of the way, and she found a baby chick roughly three moons old settled between two planks supporting each other. Its crying stopped. The chick looked at her with beady eyes. 

Have you ever seen snow? 

Its feathers were a softer shade of crimson; a far cry from what snow should look like. She offered her hand, watched it edge tentatively closer as it sniffed and pecked her hand. Part of her though it might turn away like a chocobo chick she once knew. But the chick remained, raised its head as if to judge Nayra’s intentions, before it leaped out of its shelter and gave a happy, excited ruffle of its feather. 

“Kweh!” it said as if in greeting. 

Unbidden, a lump formed at the back of Nayra’s throat. She’d thought to bring it to the closest settlement, let the villagers there raise it as how they should. But seeing it purr against her palm made her chest tighten and Nayra could see no way she could part with it. 

“Snow,” she said as gray flakes fell around her. Like frozen rain, except softer. 

Tears sprang to her eyes as a smile fought against the stiffness of her face. The chick leaped into her arms, eliciting a strained half-laugh from her. Its beady eyes now didn't look so foreign anymore. 

“You remind me of someone…” she went on.

Nayra brushed its feathers with the tip of her finger, feeling it dry and clumping together. It needed a bath. And so did she. 

~ END ~

[don-lichterman]

Animals Asia is an organization dedicated to ending cruelty to animals in Asia, particularly focusing on rescuing and rehabilitating bears from the bile farming industry

[nhoongmeep]

Week 5

Phase 2: team work

Working together you will need to design and produce your client's final deliverables in the coming weeks. How do you feel about this challenge? Do you have all the skills and knowledge you need to complete the tasks? What learning opportunities does the project offer for you as an individual?

In this week, we've just finished our presentation for our client - Four Paws/ BSNB. We expect to have feedback and a chosen brief within this week and hopefully can kickstart our project right away. For me personally, i am really excited for this project, the cause of the organization is definitely something I've been caring about for a while, and it's such a relief that such a big organization contributes to pushing back illegal bear bile farming. So for me to participate in a project like this and somehow contribute to the cause of the environment, I'm really pumped and beyond happy. I'm confident in myself and my teammates to bring the best possible result to this collaboration.

Although getting this brief is quite unexpected because it was not fully in my skillset, (my skillset is illustrations, animation, 3D so i if im being honest i was aiming for brief 2) but im up for the challenge of product development and packaging since it was also something i want to develop as a side profession. i definitely gonna have to research more into product design, packaging, budget, printing both on different materials like paper, cardboard, fabric, etc. Other than Design industry learning opportunities, i think this project will offer me in depth knowledge about the environment in general, and moon bear habitat and situations in Vietnam, AND opportunity to research more on Vietnamese culture because im planning to incorprate local myth, folklore and holiday into our project.

Project update

It's the 2nd week we havent got a respond from Jeremy about the chosen brief and everyone in my team and other teams is nervous. The thing is we dont know what content of which people gonna be chosen to proceed with the projects. We've been trying to contact BSNB trying to push them for an answer but we still havent got any feedback yet. So we r listening to our lecturers to push some fixed design up first, like Thank you card and stickers, some of our members r finding vendors and how to execute our products.

[elegantdemoness]

Animals Asia | Make a donation to Animals Asia

[sopenguinbouquet-posts]

Bears are stuffed into small cages and subjected to torturous treatment when they are farmed for their bile. The use of this substance in traditional medicine not only contributes to animal cruelty, but it also poses a potential public health risk. Demand a ban on this cruel practice.

[stickandch0ke]

Just learned about bear-bile-farming, very upset now

[londonara]

Talk at 6 p.m. on Wednesday 26th April in Winchester and online

[dream-this-nightmare-over]

STOP BEAR FARMING!!!!!!

asian countries invent all sorts of shit in technology and claim to want to be ahead of everyone, yet cant produce one ingredient in laboratory when we all know they probably cloned numerous times undercover and who knows what else like corona for example? that's a bs and we all know it. bs because you can do without bear bile. you dont need it. hiding behind platitudes about your 'hundred years medicine' when it could be if you just wanted adopted to modern times is fucking sick. pretty sure you would survive without using bear bile and you would find ways to cure things with different more ethical ingredient if someone put sanctions or cut you off from rest of the world trade. but that wont happen, because entire world is corrupted spoiled brat who doesnt give damn about anything but self pleasure at expanse of entire planet.

fuck this society.

wish humanity goes extinct and animals get back their planet.

[jojobegood1]

Jane Goodall Supports End To Bear Bile Farming

⚠️⚠️⚠️💐 À SOUTENIR SVP