Bear farms in Vietnam

So avoid Ha Long Bay - there are several up there catering to Chinese and Korean clients.

Write to the Peoples Committee.

Jeff Brewster wrote:

Please help put a stop to this barbaric custom now. Thank you.

We all feel as bad as you do.. How can we  stop this?

It can't possibly be any worse in Vietnam than this practice is in China.

Unfortunately as long as there is money to be made off the illegal trading in animal parts, both by the poachers, so-called farmers and the corrupt politicians that it takes to help keep it flourishing it will never be stamped out anywhere in the world.

While we can speak out and register our indignation, there is in fact, little that we as individuals or even animal rights groups can do about it. Even government pressure from abroad has little real effect.

wjwoodward wrote:

It can't possibly be any worse in Vietnam than this practice is in China.

It is illegal in VietNam. The problem is bribe money speaks louder than law.

wjwoodward wrote:

It can't possibly be any worse in Vietnam than this practice is in China

Yes right.. Go brearing?

I've actually had this. They don't drink it straight, but mixed in with liquor. Really horrible tasting stuff. And the great irony was the host serving this bear bile was a university professor, and he meant to honor me as a guest.

The root problem of this and many other similar products (tiger bones, Rhino horn) lies in Chinese and Southeast Asian cultures. Traditional medicine lingers on, partly because some of the remedies are useful, and partly due to a suspicion that western remedies alone aren't the only answer. Many of these remedies deal with reviving the masculine sex-drive. So even in the age of viagra, the market for traditional remedies is there.

The Koreans have sought to blend both medicines, primarily in the vegetable forest products and fungi area. One of their universities offers a full doctoral program in traditional Korean medicine. So patients who cannot find western medicines to treat their medical needs can resort to more refined traditional medicines. Yet a certain percentage of  modern Koreans still visit Shamans or go to practitioners of traditional medicine who gained their experience through the old methods rather than university.   

Asia's economic surge ahead is likely to spell extinction for some species, and miserable lives for those species that survive. Any chance that that will change will have to come from within those societies themselves.

After we stop them using Bear vile, we should stop them eating dogs? They are treated worse than the bears before death.
Cramped into small cages for up to a 900 km trip , no food or water for 2 -3 days , the lucky ones die before they reach their destination.
Some diners believe the more an animal suffers before it dies, the tastier its meat, which may explain the broken bones and the brutal way dogs are killed in Vietnam – usually by being bludgeoned to death with a heavy metal pipe (this can take 10 to 12 blows), having their throats slit, being stabbed in the chest with a large knife, or being burned alive. "I've got footage of dogs being force-fed when they get to Vietnam, a bit like foie gras," says John Dalley, a lanky British retiree who heads the Thailand-based Soi Dog Foundation, which works to stop the dogmeat trade in south-east Asia. "They shove a tube into their stomach and pump solid rice and water in them to increase their weight for sale." Nguyen has a simpler method for bumping profits: "When we want to increase the weight, we just put a stone in the dog's mouth." He shrugs, before opening up his cage for another kill.

Jaitch wrote:

wjwoodward wrote:

It can't possibly be any worse in Vietnam than this practice is in China.

It is illegal in VietNam. The problem is bribe money speaks louder than law.

If it's illegal in Vietnam then how do these so-called farms exist? Just through bribes or does the government simply ignore the laws that are on the books? Just how many bears are on these "farms" in Vietnam anyway? The figures that are available through the WWF estimate that there are over 10,000 "farm bears" in China. I really doubt that there could be near that many in VN, but stranger things have happened.

Regardless, the problem is abominable no matter where it's being carried out.

Well.. So what is your solution for those bears?

I know many people want to sell them away cos they consume much a day when they don't give any profits any longer

Whats the answer ? Well i would know the answer to this if i was in England. We have animal right groups , RSPCA, Police, and most of the population who would be appaled and sickened, if this were allowed to happen in the country. In Vietnam, im not sure, i was hoping for some guidence from some of the 90 million Vietnamise. (A) its illeagle, so shouldent these farms be shut down ? (B) is there a law against being crawl to animals ?(c) donations to the orgaizations that are trying to help these bears. (D) the more people that speak out about this, theres more chance that it will stop. Im going to see what i can do by going on the net. Im willing to donate my time, and money, to put a stop to this evil. Theres simply no room for this barbaric trade.

Jeff Brewster wrote:

Whats the answer ? Well i would know the answer to this if i was in England. We have animal right groups , RSPCA, Police, and most of the population who would be appaled and sickened, if this were allowed to happen in the country. In Vietnam, im not sure, i was hoping for some guidence from some of the 90 million Vietnamise. (A) its illeagle, so shouldent these farms be shut down ? (B) is there a law against being crawl to animals ?(c) donations to the orgaizations that are trying to help these bears. (D) the more people that speak out about this, theres more chance that it will stop. Im going to see what i can do by going on the net. Im willing to donate my time, and money, to put a stop to this evil. Theres simply no room for this barbaric trade.

Money speaks louder than laws, although you occasionally read about someone in VN being prosecuted for having illegal animals on their property, ( obviously made 1 too many enemies? ).
     In NZ/Aus you get jail time for abusing animals, plus/or huge fines, ( more than if you abused/assaulted a human ), and they are never allowed to own an animal again, ( this should apply to some parents as well, with their feral kids ).

Well the only good thing about the dog situation (if you can call it good by any streach of the imagenation) is that these poor dogs are not kept all thier lifes in what can only be descibes as HELL on earth. They get to die quicker than these bears. Ive seen these poor dogs in cages on the backs of lorries being taken away some where to be killed and then eaten. Its very upsetting when like me that i have always had dogs as pets. Dont they relise a dog is a mans best friend , and not his best meal. I have two dogs in Nha Trang, i take them out at five thirty in the morning for an hours walk, and do the same at five in the evining. I couldent let them out alone as to many dogs around here are stolen and sold to restarants. This is a Buddist country and buddist teaches to be kind to animals so i dont understand whats going on here. .?

Your so right BLUENZ when you say about the parents. I think the time has come to be tested before you are allowed to have kids. In England you would probebly have more failures than passes. Half the young girs who get pregnent now do so knowing that they wont have to go to work, and the state will provide. The more babies she has the more money she will be given. So she turnes into a baby factory. Six kids with six different fathers. Cooking,, whats that ? Mac Donalds every day.

Jeff Brewster wrote:

Well the only good thing about the dog situation (if you can call it good by any streach of the imagenation) is that these poor dogs are not kept all thier lifes in what can only be descibes as HELL on earth. They get to die quicker than these bears. Ive seen these poor dogs in cages on the backs of lorries being taken away some where to be killed and then eaten. Its very upsetting when like me that i have always had dogs as pets. Dont they relise a dog is a mans best friend , and not his best meal. I have two dogs in Nha Trang, i take them out at five thirty in the morning for an hours walk, and do the same at five in the evining. I couldent let them out alone as to many dogs around here are stolen and sold to restarants. This is a Buddist country and buddist teaches to be kind to animals so i dont understand whats going on here. .?

My dog takes me for runs mornings and nights as well, although many VN's, ( especially in cities ) are finding out how loyal, and good for companionship dogs , and treat them accordingly, ( but never exercise them, so the bloody things are barking all night ), but in the country , most are still considered a source of income, when I first came here, I thought it really strange how the kids never play with the puppies, then 3 months or so later, i found out why, even as a child , they know they are only for income, ( they also know how entertaining a dog can be, by throwing stones at it , to make it bark , when it is before it's gate, mind you , I have seen many retarded adults here do the same thing, I'm so tempted to open the gate ), although in the last few years , many farmers now have fences/walls, ( some even have gates ), around their houses, but this is probably only to protect their " breeding stock ".
  Karma does happen, a dog buyer here had his own dog stolen one night, unfortunately they only got the one, the other mongrel is always barking and chasing anyone on a bike who goes past his house..

Jaitch wrote:

So avoid Ha Long Bay - there are several up there catering to Chinese and Korean clients.

Write to the Peoples Committee.

Thanks for that. Looks like i will have to avoid the whole of China as well.