Wed, Nov 22, 2000 page4

• Activists want bear bile trade axed

  ILLEGAL TRADE Wildlife conservation activists petitioned the Judicial Yuan to make every effort to stop those who benefit financially from such cruel practices

  • By Irene Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  With a worldwide campaign against bear farming in China in full swing, conservation groups yesterday called on Taiwan authorities to contribute to the efforts in banning import of bear bile.

  Six conservation groups -- three locally based, two south Korea-based, and one UK-based -- visited the Judicial Yuan and the Directorate General of Customs yesterday, urging the authorities to crack down on the import of bear bile.

  

  Animal rights and wildlife preservation groups display a model of a caged bear undergoing surgery so that its bile can be removed. The demonstrators appealed in front of the Judicial Yuan yesterday for a crackdown on bear bile products, most of which are smuggled into Taiwan from China's bear farms.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  The groups said that yesterday's actions were taken to support the worldwide campaign against bear farming, which was recently initiated by the UK-based World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

  The campaign is targeting China's 200-plus bear farms, where an estimated 7,000 bears are kept in small cages and entire organs or parts of them are taken from them for trading.

  According to the WSPA, Asian countries, including Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, have imported such products to use as ingredients in Chinese medicine, wines, and tonics.

  During their visit to the Judicial Yuan the groups demonstrated the cruel way in which bear bile is extracted.

  They displayed a model of a bear, which was squeezed in an iron cage while "moaning in pain" from the surgery being performed on its abdomen.

  The groups went on to cite a court case involving the trade of bear bile, which they said showed Taiwan's judges were "ignorant" of wildlife protection and in need of education about the subject.

  Under Taiwan's Wildlife Conservation Law, the import and export of products from endangered species, including bones, horns, teeth, skin, fur, egg, organs and -- either complete or in part -- are prohibited. The only exceptions to the regulations are granted by authorities to institutions such as zoos and museums.

  The law, however, does not provide for material extracted from endangered species' organs, such as bear bile.

  International conservation activists have said that bear bile, which is tapped through a tube inserted into an animal's gall bladder, is undoubtedly a part of a bear's gall bladder and hence trading in it should also be banned.

  However, the Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court last August acquitted a Kaohsiung man, who imported 25.5kg of bear bile from China in July 1998, saying that "the bile was not a part of the bears' gall bladder," and thus not subject to control under the law.

  The groups, which said they were astonished by the ruling, urged the Judicial Yuan to keep the country's judiciary in touch with worldwide trends in wildlife protection.

  "It's something extracted from the gall bladder of a bear. What would it be if not a part of the organ?" asked Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) of the Taiwan-based Environment-Animal Society (動物社會研究室).

  "While we activists are working hard to protect wildlife, a judicial decision like that just undermines all the efforts we've made," she said.

  However, Yang Jen-shau (楊仁壽), secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan, tried to quell their dissatisfaction with the acquittal of the Kaohsiung bear bile trader.

  He said that the Kaohsiung case alone did not set a precedent, but was an individual case that would not affect the opinion of other judges.

  He also said that the judiciary would try to catch up with the latest developments in wildlife protection.
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