Thousands of bears are kept in tiny cages on Asian bear bile farms, enduring permanent catheterisation and extreme confinement. Effective herbal alternatives to bear bile exist and are widely available.
Bear bile farming causes prolonged, severe suffering. Bears on farms show stereotypic pacing, self-mutilation, and abnormal behaviours consistent with chronic psychological distress. The catheterisation process causes repeated pain and infection. Bears may spend their entire lives in crush cages. Effective pharmaceutical and herbal alternatives to bear bile exist and are widely used, making the continuation of bile farming a welfare harm without medical necessity.