Animals Asia clothing (help fund moon bear rescues)
If you want to make a simple difference to help moon bears used for the bile trade in Asia, buy a few organic cotton staples from the clothing shop at Animals Asia. This amazing charity (founded by a British woman) is helping not to just rescue bears stuck in cages for decades, but also to educate and help stop this awful trade for so-called ‘traditional medicine’.
Purchase of these organic staples (tees, sweatshirts and jogging bottoms) helps to fund their amazing work. All items are made from organic cotton, printed-on-demand here in England, and sent to you in zero waste plastic-free packaging. You can also send back items at end-of-life for recycling.
How to stop the bear bile trade
One of the simplest ways to help end the cruel bear bile trade is to avoid buying products associated with traditional medicine unless you can be certain they contain no animal-derived ingredients.
This is particularly important when products may contain bear bile, tiger bone, rhino horn or other wildlife parts. Although the use and sale of many such products are illegal in England, illegal wildlife products can still enter international supply chains.
Challenging the myths of ‘wildlife medicine’
There are also serious concerns surrounding other wildlife products promoted as medicines. Rhino horn, for example, is made primarily of keratin—the same protein found in human hair and fingernails—and there is no good scientific evidence that it cures cancer or other serious diseases.
In fact, the protein could fuel cancer and make things worse.
Synthetic alternatives to bear bile
Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), also known as ursodiol, a substance that has legitimate medical uses. Importantly, UDCA does not need to come from bears.
Synthetic UDCA is manufactured without extracting bile from animals and is used medically for conditions including certain gallstones and liver diseases. This demonstrates why there is no need to keep bears in captivity or exploit them for their bile, when an effective non-animal alternative exists.
