How much is a bear gallbladder worth on the black market?

Although black bears are not in danger of extinction in most states, their body parts garner astronomical prices on the international black market. A U.S. hunter can sell a bear gallbladder for $20 to $120, with the retail price ranging from $75 to $600.

Why can’t you have a black bear gallbladder?

Consumers of bear bile run the risk of ingesting bile from sick bears, which can be contaminated with blood, feces, pus, urine, and bacteria. If the animals stop producing bile, they may be left to starve or be slaughtered, their parts sold on the black market.

Why are bears killed for their gallbladder?

Traditional medicine practitioners agree that nobody’s health will suffer from a lack of bear bile. Bears are kept in tiny cages on bile farms for years, often decades. In the past, bear bile was obtained by hunting bears in the wild and killing them to remove their gall bladders.

What is a bear’s gallbladder?

Bears as medicine Bear gall bladder is also used to treat serious liver ailments and as a tonic to prevent liver damage from over-consumption of alcohol. Bears are the only mammals to produce significant amounts of the bile acid tauro ursodeoxycholic or UDCA.

Is it legal to sell bear gallbladders?

Currently, individual states have laws to restrict illegal trade. There are 34 states that prohibit the trade in bear gallbladders, while only five states allow commercialization and the remainder either have no regulations or allow sale if the bear was killed outside the state.

What is bear gall used for?

Bear bile has been a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine for 3,000 years. [1] It has been used to cure various ailments, such as fever, gall stones, liver problems, heart disease, and eye irritation.

Is it illegal to sell black bear gallbladder?

California’s Fish and Game Code includes a provision stating that “it is unlawful to sell or purchase, or possess for sale, the meat, skin, hide, teeth, claws, or other parts of any bear in this state” and that “the possession of more than one bear gall bladder is prima facie evidence that the bear gall bladders are …

How is a bear gallbladder removed?

The method claimed to be the most ‘humane’ by bile farmers, is ‘free-drip’ method, where bears undergo surgery to create a permanent open passage from their gallbladder through their abdomen. The surgery is crude, unhygienic and rarely performed by a veterinarian.

What is bear gallbladder used for on the black market?

The most coveted medicinal part of the bear is the bile within the gall bladder, which gram for gram can exceed the cost of narcotics.” Bile and gallbladders have been used for thousands of years in the treatment of numerous of ailments including cardiac problems, eye puffiness, asthma, cancer, burns and impotence.

Why are black bear gallstones valuable?

It also treats certain kinds of cirrhosis. (There’s even evidence that it inhibits the growth of tumors and thus helps prevent colon cancer.) So there’s one reason why bear gallbladders are so expensive: they have serious medicinal properties, which makes them inherently valuable.

Why is it illegal to possess a bear gallbladder?

Selling bear gallbladders has been banned since 1998 in Quebec, in order to avoid the bears’ slaughter. Some 160 wildlife officers participated in the operation, which began in 2015. About 60 individuals were interviewed, and 16 searches took place.

How do you stop bear bile farms?

Five ways YOU can help end bear bile farming

  1. 1/ Tell the world. Animals Asia firmly believes that every additional person who finds out about bear bile farming brings us one step closer to ending the practice.
  2. 2/ Form a Volunteer Support Group.
  3. 3/ Organise an event.
  4. 4/ Sign up and stay up to date.
  5. 5/ Donate.