[conserve]Bill introduced on bear protection
Posted:2007-3-8|Source:The Associated Press|No. of Views:
Thursday, March 8, 2007 (Beijing):
A member of China's National People's Congress Party has proposed new legislation to protect bears, specifically to halt the collection of bile, a fluid from bears' livers, as an ingredient in Chinese medicine.
Zhou Ping - a representative from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province - has challenged a practise that was previously encouraged by China in the 1990s as a way to stop the hunting of endangered wild bears for their bile.
Environmentalists complain that bears are now held in small cages and are often injured by metal tubes surgically implanted to drain the stomach fluid.
Most of the bears farmed for bile in China are Asiatic black bears, which the government lists as an endangered species.
In 2002, the non government wildlife protection organisation Animals Asia opened a sanctuary in a bamboo forest in the southwestern province of Sichuan, to care for many bears rescued from these farms.
Experts say China's production of bear bile has sharply increased, suggesting that bear farms are supplying a thriving foreign trade.
The government denies all knowledge of such exports.
Zhou Ping, who works for a Chengdu transportation hotline, says she was encouraged to focus on environmental safety and wildlife protection.
Her proposal was made as the National People's Congress gathers for its annual twelve-day session, allowing party leaders to meet with nearly three thousand delegates from around the country.
The protection of animal rights is an important issue spreading across China where domestic pets are viewed as personal property and animal abuse is a growing concern.
