Korea displays commitment to end bear farming

Jan 18, 2012

WSPA welcomes the fantastic news from Korea that the Korean National Assembly has demonstrated political will to end the cruel bear faming practice.

This is the first time that the Korean government has publicly stated its desire to end bear farming and demonstrated a clear commitment to work up details of how this will be done.

The Budget Committee of the National Assembly has voted through a proposal to “prepare measures to end the practice of bear farming through investigation of the current status of bear farming and its management plan”.

The approval of this proposal is a compelling sign that the Korean government recognises the need to end the cruelty of bear farming, both within Korea and internationally.

The government has cleared a budget of $200 Mmillion Korean Won (about AUS$169,000) to ascertain the current situation of bears on farms in Korea and design ways to end the practice.

“The Korean National Assembly has made a great beginning towards ending this cruel practice,” said Chris Gee, WSPA Wildlife Campaign Manager. “The news will be welcomed by the Korean public – 90% of whom showed their support for ending bear farming in a 2011 poll funded by WSPA – as well as our vast network of partner organisations, hundreds of whom lobbied the Korean government last year. It is clear that this pressure delivered by WSPA and local partner Green Korea United was crucial and powerful, as the Ministry of the Environment chose to reference the results of campaigning in their budget submission to the National Assembly.”

WSPA aims to work with its partner organisation, Green Korea United, and with officials from the Ministry of Environment to ensure the research project obtains all the evidence needed and that the research phase is completed as quickly as possible.

What does this mean for the bears?

WSPA would like to see a ban on captive breeding of bears, meaning that no new bears will be born into a life of suffering on Korean bear farms. We want this to happen as soon as possible and hope to work with government officials for this.

In South Korea, bears are raised until the age of ten and then slaughtered for their bile to be ‘harvested’. Even though extraction of bile from live bears is illegal, there have been some cases of bile extraction as witnessed and exposed – in footage some readers may find distressing – by media such as SBS TV.

As part of the international campaign to end bear farming, WSPA has:

• Delivered petitions - including thousands of photos collected via a photo action - from over 160,000 people worldwide to the Korean government

• Achieved pressure from international governments on Korea

• Provided evidence to Korean of the lessons learnt from Vietnam, the first government to pledge to end bear farming

• Provided the Korean government with advice from WPSA and a range of welfare conservation NGOs about why the practice needs to end.

Once the process is complete and bear farming ended in South Korea, the country will be setting a great example for other countries in Asia where this cruel practice is still tolerated by governments

Click here to read more about our work to end bear farming.