Moon Bears Endangered - Close the Bile Farms!

​www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-53491515/moon-bears-korean-campaigners-call-for-farm-closures?intlink_from_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Ftopics%2Fclm1wxp533pt%2Fanimals&link_location=live-reporting-map

Campaigners in South Korea are calling for the closure of farms that extract bile from moon bears for traditional medicine. There are more than 400 moon bears on these farms scattered across the country living in problematic conditions which has prompted campaigners to take a stand.

Sun and Moon bears are listed as endangered on the endangered species list which means that they are on a path leading towards extinction. In fact, it is reported that there are less than 16, 000 moon bears left on this planet. Moon bears face several perils in the wild with habitat loss and poaching being the top two contributing factors to their drop in population. In one investigation, over 100 traps were discovered in one area in only 90 minutes. This is alarming and a call for action to better protect these beautiful bears before they go extinct. This starts with the closure of bile farms across Asia.

I find that we as humans are constantly working against our own efforts because we sit on two different sides of every problem. Moon bears are endangered, therefore one would assume that we would be doing everything we could to protect them. While there are conservation efforts in motion, we are simultaneously allowing the exploitation and suffering of moon bears on bile farms. Are we not just working against ourselves in protecting moon bears? It seems to me that if we are truly committed to conservation, we would be actively looking for ways to protect these bears at all costs which would include shutting down these horrific bile farms.

Such is the case with many endangered species from Africa. We hear about all of these different charitable organizations that are working tirelessly to combat illegal poaching while simultaneously allowing wealthy hunters to come in and shoot endangered animals for trophies. Logically, one would think that if we were wholly committed to protecting these species' that we would be working to eliminate all human induced perils that these animals face. As I stated, we seem to be hypocritically approaching every effort to protect animals because we are only looking at things from one angle. If we are to truly protect endangered species, we must eliminate all of our contributions to their population demise. 

For crying out loud this isn't rocket science! If moon bears are endangered, close the bile farms and work towards a sustainable rehabilitation plan. There's no excuse for allowing these farms to house endangered bears in squalor while they slowly go extinct in the wild. Close the farms and save the bears, simple as that.

HAPPY VEG