Bear bile farming confines bears in small cages and extracts bile from their gallbladders through catheterization or fistula, causing chronic pain, psychological distress, and shortened lives.
Bear bile farming creates welfare suffering that is both acute and chronic. The extraction procedure causes direct pain. Between extractions, bears confined in cages too small to turn around experience constant physical and psychological suffering — stereotypic behaviors, muscle deterioration, and self-directed aggression are endemic. Bears that survive long enough develop cancer, liver disease, and degenerative conditions from the chronic bile drainage. The continued existence of bile farming in the face of available synthetic alternatives represents a welfare failure driven by cultural tradition and regulatory reluctance. Synthetic ursodeoxycholic acid provides identical therapeutic benefits without animal suffering.