Fight against time to save Vietnam’s moon bear

London - A host of high profile names are joining forces in an effort to protect the endangered Asiatic black bear, known as the moon bear.

The species is being pushed to the brink of extinction in Vietnam due to bear bile farming, a trade purportedly rife with animal cruelty.

Sir Paul McCartney, Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Slash, Russell Crowe, Ricky Gervais, Alicia Silverstone, Mayim Bialik, William Shatner, Alan Cumming, Kesha and Joaquin Phoenix are among those pushing to rescue the remaining bears trapped in Vietnamese bile farms.

Last year, a woman was fined $7500 after smuggling bear bile into New Zealand from China. Litao Xu was the first person to be convicted of the crime under the Trade in Endangered Species Act.

Bear bile farming keeps moon bears captive in order to extract bile from their gallbladders. It began in Asia in the 1980s with the view of using it for medicinal purposes, according to animal protection charity Animals Asia.

The bile contains high levels of ursodeoxycholic acid, which can be used to treat liver and gallbladder afflictions in humans.

But obtaining the substance comes at a brutal cost. The trade involves keeping bears in cramped cages and often unhygienic conditions. The extraction process is invasive and results in unimaginable physical and psychological suffering, according to Animals Asia.

Bear bile farming was outlawed in Vietnam in 1992. But legal loopholes have allowed producers to continue their operations. Animals are frequently poached from the wild to be used for their bile, which has shaken wild moon bear populations. They are now on the endangered species list.

In 2017, after years of rallying, the Vietnamese government signed an agreement with Animals Asia. The agreement assigned Animals Asia as its partner in shutting down the trade for good.

The charity is working to rescue the remaining moon bears in Vietnam. It predicts there are around 400 left on Vietnamese farms. However, around 12,000 bears are still living on bile farms across Asia, Plant Based News says.