When you think of bile, what comes to mind? For me, it’s usually dry heaves, puking, that kind of thing. I used to have a pretty strong stomach, but ever since I had a baby it seems like it’s gotten a bit weaker (sort of a contradiction to the rule that your stomach’s supposed to get stronger post-birth, right?), and a lot of things—from the sight of cat vomit to a very strong fart—make me gag these days.

In China, bile is actually seen as something much more important; it’s considered a medical remedy. How could you use bile for medicine when it’s inside a human, you might wonder. That’s easy: you don’t take it from humans, you take it from bears—the vulnerable species of Asiatic black bears, to be exact.

Asiatic black bears are captured so that their gallbladders—essentially their bile—can be extracted through the practice of “bile farming” in the country. Ancient Chinese medicine calls for bear bile to reduce fever, break gallstones down, combat inflammation, and repair eyesight. Bile bears, or battery bears, are kept in captivity in tight cages known as crush cages. These tiny confinements are extremely uncomfortable for the animals. They are unable to stand upright, kept at a certain angle so that their bodies are accessible for the extraction to take place twice a day. The extraction itself is painful as well; bears moan and cry during the process. These bears can live up to twelve years like this; and in the rare instances when they are rescued, they suffer permanent muscle atrophy and disfigurement, as well as plenty of mental stress.

Bears bang their heads against their cages in agony regularly. They chew their own paws in distress. They lose their hair, lose weight, and suffer malnutrition. Their growth and muscle mass development is stunted; sometimes they even have their claws and teeth removed.

Once the bears stop making bile under these cruel conditions, they care killed for their meat, gall bladders, paws, and fur. Their paws are considered a food delicacy. However, many bears simply die from complications before they can even be killed.

Please send a letter to the World Society for the Protection of Animals in support of abolishing this cruel treatment of the Asiatic black bear. While the organization is already working hard to abolish the practice, it needs the support of the public to continue to make any headway toward eradicating the practice.