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Bear bile farming is a reality today. Although it is unnecessary to bile a bear, it is still very much a common practice in some places today. It causes extreme pain to the bears. During the process, it can be observed that bears gnash their teeth, bite their cages, moan, and even chew their own paws because of the pain.

Bile Extraction - Bile extraction is done in the crudest manner, and without any form of sanitation. The persons conducting it are unskilled and the process is not up to modern veterinary standards. Most of the bears die during or soon after bile extraction. If they live, they suffer from liver cancer, as a result of chronic inflammation and infection of the gall bladder and liver. Generally, farmed bears live only up to 4 years.

Why People Bile Bears - Bile is a digestive liquid produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Bile gathered from bears has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for at least three thousand years for a variety of purposes. It is used in Chinese physiotherapy, to cure inflammations and to dissolve gall stones and kidney stones. Also, it is thought to help detoxify the liver and improve eyesight. And according to research, bears are the only mammals that produce the bile salt ursodeoxycholic acid, which is effective in treating some liver diseases.

Before, bear bile was gathered by killing wild bears and removing their gallbladders. In recent decades, when wild bears became increasingly rare, bile became prohibitively costly for most Chinese. But then, during the year 1980, the Chinese bear bile farming industry adapted a technique first developed in North Korea. This involved extracting bile from captive bears without having to kill them.

Bear Cruelty - The bears are housed in cages hardly large enough to hold the animal itself. To get the bile, an incision is made in each bear’s abdomen and a catheter (which is basically a plastic or rubber tube) is then inserted into the gallbladder. The bile is drained through the catheter and then gathered for sale.

How is the process done? To gather the bile from the gallbladder, a connection from the gallbladder (located deep inside the body) to the surface has to be established. The connection, which is medically called fistula, is made in any of the three ways: insertion of a metal tube, insertion of a plastic tube, or creation of a tissue bridge between the gallbladder and skin. The connection is conducted by untrained and unskilled individuals who do not observe modern veterinary standards.

To gather the bile, some bears wear a “metal jacket”. It is worn around their bodies and it has a collection container attached to it. There are bears forced to lie on the floor of their small cages so the bile will drip downward. Keep in mind that their crush cages are extremely small. The floor is made up of iron bars so the bears cannot stand or lie down on firm ground. This results in neck and back injury. Since a bear’s body will try to exclude the inserted metal or plastic tube or close the tissue bridge, scarring and damage is done to both the inside and outside of the bear. Sometimes, to prevent the closing of the incision, hot pieces of metal are inserted without any form of sedation or anesthesia. Bile is collected twice a day, and this goes on for the rest of their lives.

Why Bear Farming is Useless - This is all very unnecessary. There is no need to make poor bears undergo such abuse. The use of bear bile is obsolete. There are at least 75 herbal medicines that can be used as an alternative to bear bile. Of which, 54 are proven to work. These alternatives are a lot cheaper and more convenient.

Now, synthesized bear bile that contains UrsoDeoxyCholic Acid (the active constituent in bear bile) is available. All these alternatives are just as effective without the deaths of innocent bears. Let us put a stop to bear bile farming. It causes unnecessary torture to poor bears.

People are beginning to turn to green living practices, to help save the planet for their descendants, as global warming continues to pose a danger for the planet’s future. All aspects of our lives, including driving to work and mowing our lawns, can be incorporated into to living green.

It’s a daunting prospect to switch to green living all at one time, and this might actually scare some people away from taking on these most important earth friendly changes. However, you can start slowly, so that you ease into green living and will still help positively impact the earth’s environment.

Some cities have a big problem with smog and air pollution, and much of it can be traced to manufacturing plants. However, that’s not the only contributor to the problem. Cars and trucks, traffic congestion and long commutes add considerably to the pollution.

With so many vehicles making their way through the streets, the sheer volume of pollutants being produced is wiping out the atmosphere’s ozone layer. If you would like to do your part to preserve the environment, consider car pooling, cycling or walking to work, taking public transportation, or even purchasing a new hybrid vehicle that’s less damaging to the air you breathe.

Even small changes like this can provide substantial environmental relief and help to ensure our world is here for many generations to come. If you examine your home, you will find various ways to include green living in your life. Which brand and type of bulb do you use?

Typical incandescent bulbs add up to higher electricity costs and more carbon dioxide. If you exchange even a few of these light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs, you can help save the environment and also save money on your electric bills.

You can also seal any gaps around your windows or doors to keep any cool drafts from going into the house. This can cost you more money. Your house should be well insulated so that you can cut down on energy “escapes,” especially during the wintertime. The better insulated your house, the less your furnace will have to run, which will save you money and will save energy, too.

Next, examine your appliances to see if they’re consuming excessive energy. If you have older models, it’s likely that they’re not very efficient. While some of the changes are in the appliances that you use, other ways to go green involve your own habits and actions.

For instance, do you find yourself opening your oven door frequently to see if what you are preparing is done? How hard an appliance has to work is directly proportional to how hard it is on the environment. Continually opening the oven door will result in the temperature dropping almost 25 degrees. The oven will have to work again, even harder, to bring the temperature back to the level at which it originally was.

Recycling is an excellent way to save our environment. Try to buy as many products as you can that can be recycled. Avoid the non-recyclable items such as Styrofoam cups. The less trash that has to be burned - or buried into our soil - the better off our planet will be.

These may seem like small changes, but they can have a huge impact on the environment. Simply put, if everyone does them, this has a huge impact in a positive way on the environment. Every little bit everyone can do will go a long way toward preserving our planet for future generations. Pay attention to the environment and get involved so that you, too, begin to positively impact the environment through green living practices that will only benefit the earth.