Killing leading to long-term decline of bear populations
Young black bear cub takes refuge in a cottonwood tree. Photo: Myron Kozak
A message from Anthony Marr
When I was a boy about ten years of age living in Hong Kong, I saw the live skinning of a snake in a local meat market. I still vividly recall the pink, stripped body of the poor creature writhing for what seemed an eternity, tying knots around itself, while its human tormentors joked on unabatedly. Just as vividly, I remember the vow I made to myself: "When I grow up, I will help stop human cruelty against all living beings.
The BET'R Campaign, launched in the fall of 1995, is part of my fulfillment of this pledge. BET'R stands for Bear, Elephant, Tiger and Rhinoceros, the four species of big terrestrial mammals most extensively exploited and, in fact, being driven to extinction primarily by the Oriental use of their body parts for medicinal and other purposes, by over-hunting in some of the countries in which big game hunting is still legal, as well as by the continuing destruction of their natural habitats.
I launched the BET'R campaign not in spite of my being of Chinese extraction, but because of it. My Chinese Canadian heritage allows me to challenge both cultures' age-old traditions head on, without racism accusations.
The BET'R Campaign addresses both supply and demand of the problem with a dual yang and yin strategy. The yang seeks a short-term interim solution via tougher laws and enforcement to both reduce poaching and suppress trafficking. It essentially buys time for the yin--the long-term fundamental solution via education and media to ultimately eliminate the demand for the use of animal parts in the various Asian as well Western cultures.
Regarding the "T" of the BET'R acronym: three of the original eight subspecies are all critically endangered. Also endangered are both species of elephants (African and Asian), all five species of rhinos, and four out of seven species of bears.
The cover of the March 1995 issue of TIME magazine featured a tiger upon whose visage was superimposed the tittle: DOOMED. We all know the meaning of that word, but here is an additional dash of reality. I recently asked a conservationist form India whether he would bet on the future of the Bengal tiger surviving in the wild. He replied, "I would bet all that I own on the tiger's prosperity, but I think I'm going to lose."
He explained why. There are only 2,500 Bengal tigers left in India, and more then one a day are being lost to poachers. As to other four sub-species, there are only 1,000 Indochinese tigers, 500 Sumatran tigers, 130 Siberian tigers, and 30 to 80 South China tigers remaining.
Rhinos are also on the brink of extinction. Fewer then 9,000 animals of all 5 species are left roaming the wild. By the year 2001, unless some major conservation efforts are made, the tigers and the rhinos will be extinct except for a few animals kept in zoos. This is a tragically unacceptable way to begin a new millennium.
Anthony saving bears for young Christopher.
While the African elephant seems to be recovering somewhat, the tusks seized over the last few years show a steady decrease in size, indicating the demise of large males and the poaching, now, of females and adolescents. Regarding the Indian elephant, only males have a tusk. They have been poached to the point where the male:female ratio is down to 1:80.
Of the world's seven species of bears, four are currently endangered. Two are classified as vulnerable or threatened--the Grizzly (also known as the Brown) bear and the Polar bear. Only one has healthy populations, the North American Back bear, but this could rapidly change.
The endangered bear species include the Spectacled bear of South America, the Sun bear and Sloth bear of India and Southeast Asia, and the previously wide-ranging Asiatic Black bear, whose demise is most significant, since it used to be the main source of bear parts to feed the Asian market. As of late 1980s, Asiatic Black bears numbers in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan) dwindled to the point of commercial extinction. This has forced poaching to spread northward, targeting the Russian Brown bear, and eastward for the Grizzly and especially the North American Black bears.
Definite proof of this expanded demand rests in the fact that China has been applying for permits to import Black bear from Canada to fill the cages in their notorious "bear farms" (where permanent catheters continually extract bear bile), and South Korea has been importing North American Black bears for slaughter in front of restaurant customers!
BET'R animal parts have unbelievably high cash value today. While a live wild tiger is priceless, a dead tiger is worth $75,000 US in saleable parts; rhino horn can fetch up to $60,000 per kilogram; bear galls have been known to sell for $64,000 a piece, and Koreans and Taiwanese pay up to $2,000 per bowl of paw soup. The incentive to poach and traffic is immense.
But the killing of these animals for use in medicinal products is not necessary. Most products have absolutely no scientific basis to their effectiveness (the exception being Urso-dexycholic acid [UDCA] found in bear galls) which now are being synthesized in large quantities.
Carcass of poached bear with gall and paws removed found near Fort Nelson, BC Photo: WCWC files.
I feel deep inside that hunting for pleasure or entertainment (recreational hunting) or for vanity (trophy hunting) or for profit (poaching) are all equally morally wrong. As far as I can see, gall, paw, head and hide are all bear parts and killing and bear for any of these reasons is unacceptable human behavior. It is especially abominable for adults to teach children to kill wild animals for fun or sport.
The bear is to Canada as the tiger is to India and the lion to Kenya. But while India and Kenya have outlawed tiger and lion hunting respectively, Canada is still quagmired in the "great white hunter" tradition and continues to allow sport and trophy hunting of bears, the country's most magnificent and powerful of wild animals.
Canada, with its glorious history of leading the fight to save the whales, is now straggling behind two Third World countries in the global movement to phase out big game sport an trophy hunting.
The loss of biodiversity is a growing global crisis; increasing numbers of species are at risk of extinction. As the first "developed" country to ratify the international Biodiversity Convention (in 1992), Canada has the moral obligation to fully protect its species and to lead the world in biodiversity conservation. This means stopping the sport and trophy hunting of bears now, while they still have a chance to thrive.
