The Animalizer

There are more than 100 bear farms in Korea. As if we don’t already have a growing list of problems with endangered species. These farms have about 1,600 bears in captivity. Many of them are the endangered species, the Asian Moon Bears, called this way because of a V-shape mark on their chests. The bears are not kept in captivity to help save the species. Many of these bear farms are businesses that trade and import bears to other parts of the world.

These business bear farms are operating with the consent of the Korean government. Unfortunately, they do not have sanitary and safe living environments for the bears. They are treated just like objects of trade and kept in tiny bear cages with no room to move.

The food fed to these poor animals are the food you would give to a pig. Basically, in Asia this refers to leftovers, innards mixed with a little rice and soup.

The trading of bears from bear farms are twofold. They are either exported alive or dead. This means they are either sold for breeding or just sold for parts.  The people who buy them come from Japan, Thailand, North America, and Europe. This kind of trade has been in existence since the 1980s.

Even the method of slaughtering the bears for export is inhumane. There are no government guidelines on how to do it, so everything is left to the managers and owners of the bear farms. Terrible stories are being spread about bears being boiled alive or roasted in cages while still alive. They do this because it preserves the “juices” in the meat and makes it more tasty. One Irish conservationist report about seeing Koreans watch the bear cooked alive before eating the cooked meat. It’s like a brutal ritual that they seem to enjoy.

When slaughtered, their parts are sold separately from feet, meat, gall bladder, and fur. The gall bladder is the prime part in bears especially for Asian buyers. There is this belief that it can cure diseases and be used to make medicine. The meat is considered a delicacy and is sold at an extremely high price.

Savage practices like these can be stopped if more people are informed about what happens inside the bear farms in Korea.