A Fight For Bear Conservation In Vietnam

I didn’t really know how to start writing this article, as my emotions came back after reading a news like this. The helplessness I felt when I saw the cruelty with which we human beings treat animals solely for our economic benefit makes me feel ashamed of others.

On the other hand, I’m happy to write articles like this one, which I hope will spread as much as possible so that everyone knows what we’re doing: destroying our precious planet. It’s as if the animals bother us, as if we wanted to get them off the Earth. Well, we are managing to do this.

Don’t miss this sad and moving story, which at the same time brings us perspectives for better days, knowing that there are those who fight for the rights of animals.

The tremendous use of animals in Vietnam

In Vietnam there is a tradition of using parts of wild animals in food or medicine for the sole purpose of demonstrating that they have more than others: the display of the “ostentatious” way of life.

Obviously this is a big deal, and these types of substances tend to be very expensive, so having the money to buy them is a demonstration of self-centeredness that unfortunately floods human society.

It’s not just about bears, but also about tigers, turtles and other endangered animals. There are even “gourmet” restaurants that serve them as if they were local specialties. Entrepreneurs take their customers to this type of restaurant to impress them. How could we get to that? Where will this cruelty generated by greed take us?

What is happening to bears in Vietnam?

I think I strayed from the topic a bit, so let’s go back and talk about bears in Vietnam. It turns out that there is this Vietnamese tradition of using animal parts as medicine, leading to the belief that bear bile has the ability to cure serious illnesses, improve eyesight and even fight cancer. No case has yet been heard of a person who has conquered cancer because of the bears’ bile, but anyway… Let’s go on.

The question that must be popping into your head is: bile? How is it extracted from bears in Vietnam? The answer is so simple that it can be said in one word: hole. Yes, you heard me right. After having caged Vietnam bears for several years, as this practice is carried out in animal husbandry sites, humans make a hole in the bears while they are alive and awake.

This hole is made in a part of the abdomen where your gallbladder is located, and no anesthesia is used on the animal. Just a kind of tranquilizer that makes him slightly dizzy. This hole is the size of a tennis ball, and unfortunately men do not have the decency or courtesy to close it at the end of the process, so the animal is left with a hole in its body, through which it will be exposed to various diseases and infections.

Consequences for bears in Vietnam

Obviously, having a hole with these characteristics in your body shouldn’t be anything pleasant or frivolous. In fact, it hasn’t been many years since a story appeared in an Asian newspaper: a bear mother killed her baby and then committed suicide by hitting her head because she couldn’t bear the pain.

Many bears fall into severe depressions that lead to suicide, and others are never the same again. Unfortunately, the cruel consequence is that today there are only 100 bears in Vietnam living in a state of freedom, in their natural habitat, which is too sad for us to think about.

The fight to solve this situation

Without a doubt, Vietnam’s bears are a topic we should be paying close attention to. Luckily, there are people who try to combat the problem, even though they don’t seem to be getting much results at the moment. On some occasions, even when governments know what is going on, they don’t bother to help and settle for their share of the money that is made in this cruel industry.

However, there are advocates who do not surrender, are willing to end this Vietnamese tradition as well as their breeding sites, which not only harm the bears in Vietnam, but also many other animals that are in danger of extinction.

There are many hypotheses on how we arrived in the world, us and the animals, but if the idea that there is a creator is correct, I cannot imagine how he feels when he sees this lack of love and the ambition that human beings feel. A lack of respect that leads to killing people and animals for a single purpose: money.

Image credits: M. Campo.