Bears in captivity down by 72%

There are only about 1,250 bears in captivity in farms across the country as of early 2015, down 72% compared with 2005 data, heard a meeting in Hanoi on May 7 to commemorate Vietnam Bear Day, calling for an end to the bear farming in Vietnam.

Thursday, May 07, 2015 09:29

The number of bears in captivity has fallen significantly in the last ten years.

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Held by Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), the event aims to review the ten years of progress towards ending bear farming in the country since the programme was initiated by ENV in 2005.

Bear farming is a serious threat to the survival of bears in Vietnam. In 2005, more than 4,300 bears in captivity were discovered at farms across the country to serve the demand for bear bile as a traditional medicinal product. Most of the bears were hunted from the wild and sold to farms.

Since 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has made efforts to alleviate bear farming in Vietnam. Initially, 4,300 bears were registered with microchips for management.

After ten years, the number of bears in captivity was significantly reduced, thanks to the active participation and efforts from the government, domestic and international social organisations, and the community, said ENV Director Nguyen Thi Quyen.

She went on to quote statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, saying that there are only about 1,250 bears in captivity across the country, down 72% compared with 2005 data.

Results from a survey conducted in late 2014 by ENV and World Animal Protection also showed that demand for bear bile has plummeted in the last five years.

In a 2009 survey, 60.9% of 3,000 participants in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City said they were using bear bile. However, the survey results at the end of 2014 showed that only 26.6% were using bear bile, falling by 60.7%.

However, much more needs to be done to put an end to bear farming in Vietnam, said pop diva My Linh, who is also ENV's bear protection ambassador.

"We have achieved significant progress in the past ten years and will not stop until no bear suffers in captivity for bile extraction", singer My Linh stressed.

Agreeing with My Linh, ENV Director Quyen confirmed that only when bear farming has ended entirely, would bear populations in the wild have a chance to be restored.