Joining a worldwide campaign against bear farming in China, Taiwanese animal rights activists yesterday started distributing postcards to be sent to Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
The postcards, issued by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (
The campaign is targeting China's 200-plus bear farms, which house an estimated 7,000 bears in cages so small that the animals cannot move, sit up, or turn around, according to the WSPA Web site.
The farmers also do not allow their bears to hibernate, as they would naturally, despite winter temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees in some parts of China, according to the WPSA.
The WSPA is also critical of the way bear bile is extracted. The farmers cut an opening through the animal's abdomen and insert a tube into the body to tap the bile. Between 10ml and 20ml of bile is tapped from each bear twice daily during feeding, impeding the bear's ability to digest food, the WSPA said.
When the bears fall sick or stop providing bile due to failing health, they are often left to die or killed for their gall bladder and paws, the WSPA said.
Bear paws are eaten as a delicacy in China and Southeast Asia. A bear paw dish may fetch as much as 3,800 yuan (US$470) in China's metropolitan hotels, according to the WSPA.
To absorb the overproduction of bear bile, the Chinese government is continuing to promote its use in an expanding array of products.
In 1998, China's bear farms produced 7,000kg of dry bile, of which only 4,000kg was actually consumed. Just 500kg was used for medicinal purposes, while the majority was used for products such as wines and tonics, according to WSPA statistics.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora lists China's bears as an endangered species, effectively banning the export of bear products.
However, the WSPA claims that Chinese bear farms have exported their products to other Asian countries, including Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
Seven out of 10 traditional medicine stores surveyed by the WSPA sell bear bile and gall bladders, the WSPA said.
The WSPA said the campaign against bear farming has now spread to 13 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, India and Thailand.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique