Bears may be being poached for gall bladders in NY (legislation pending?)

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Is this a Tibetan herbal thing, or something??
 
rup said:
Is this a Tibetan herbal thing, or something??
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Don't know about traditional Tibetan medicine, but it is part of traditional Chinese medicine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear#Pharmacology http://arktofile.net/pages/why_e.html

China, South Korea, and Japan are major consumers of bear bile.

The Chinese even "farm" bears for bile extraction... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear

Conservation viewpoint: http://www.endangeredspecieshandbook.org/trade_traditional_bears.php

Doug
 
Sadly, this is another species being harmed by the ridiculous appetite some cultures have for imagined "herbal cures." Add bears to the list with tigers, rhinos, etc. What's especially pathetic is that many of these "cures" are virility treatments; so these animals are being harmed due to some folks personal inadequacy complexes.
 
TCD said:
Sadly, this is another species being harmed by the ridiculous appetite some cultures have for imagined "herbal cures." Add bears to the list with tigers, rhinos, etc. What's especially pathetic is that many of these "cures" are virility treatments; so these animals are being harmed due to some folks personal inadequacy complexes.
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Mammal bile is actually medicinally useful--bears just happen to have the highest concentration of the active ingredient. However, enough bile is available from modern slaughterhouses that bears need not be taken or farmed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear#Pharmacology

Doug
 
How about turning these pochers loose in NJ for a legal hunting season or two? Northern Jersey seem to have a huge bear problem that really needs to be addressed, hey almost out number Geese in some places. There are many of these hot spots, even in NYS, that should have an open season every so often.

.
 
Fear not bear bile lovers. The New York State Legislature (the greatest in the land!) did vote to extend protections to the slumbering giants at the end of the session. The article linked in the OP is from May 1.

Here is the updated status as of a couple of days ago.

Bear bile and bladders banned by bicameral bill

The gall.
 
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paul ron said:
How about turning these pochers loose in NJ for a legal hunting season or two? Northern Jersey seem to have a huge bear problem that really needs to be addressed, hey almost out number Geese in some places. There are many of these hot spots, even in NYS, that should have an open season every so often.

.
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Northern NJ has a huge people population problem as well...which forces all the bears, etc. into small and often isolated corridors/pockets of forest. Their population "density" is large, and although the overall poulation has been on the rise, I'm not so sure the numbers are that huge though when compared to places like Maine, NH, etc. NJ is the most densely populated state in the US - there isn't much space for bears.

Thanks for the update on the legislation Puma - glad to see something was done in the last couple months. Public pressure alone would force their hand on this one..
 
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TCD said:
Sadly, this is another species being harmed by the ridiculous appetite some cultures have for imagined "herbal cures." Add bears to the list with tigers, rhinos, etc. What's especially pathetic is that many of these "cures" are virility treatments; so these animals are being harmed due to some folks personal inadequacy complexes.
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Nicely said.
 
I was cross country skiing around moss lake by eagle bay a few years back.
A couple of guys asked me if there were bears around here. I said there
are plenty of camps around here so there are bound to be bears.
Now that I hear about this I am sorry I opened my mouth.
 
Little Rickie said:
I wonder how many bears are "poached" for this, where and what impact it's had on the population in those locations?

The New York population is increasing.
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Great question - I'm looking at this as more of a warning to keep our eyes open since poaching has been occurring elsewhere, the NE may be targeted more often at some point. I don't get the impression it's become a big problem in NY yet, but of course, no one really knows when a bear is poached unless the poacher is caught. That said, the population could be exploding and I still wouldn't condone this.

Let's hope the bears can die of old age. :)
 
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