Moon Bears

I just read something disturbing in Beppe Grillo's blog. An italian.... maverick.

I've no idea if what is said is really the state of things, but I do tend to think it could be so, just from a personal experience of my husband being offered a certain concoction to drink when we were welcome to stay at a friend's abode.. some years ago.

Anyway, do any of you know any more about this? I hasten to add we in the west have our difficult behaviors too..

Here's the link, which has photos and a video
(you may need to scroll down to and just past Dec. 1st)
http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/


and a quote -

"I’m publishing an interview with Jill Robinson (*) of Animals Asia Foundation. The blog has already described the Calvary of the Moon Bears. Unable to move inside a tiny cage for 20 years, for as long as they stay alive. Twice a day their bile is extracted from their bodies for use in medicines, drinks and shampoos. The pain is so great that they try to commit suicide. To stop them doing that, their claws have been pulled out and their teeth sawn off. 10,000 Moon Bears are tortured in China, Korea and Vietnam. Jill will shortly tell us about the products containing their bile and the addresses of the torture sites.
I have asked Jill if I can adopt a Moon Bear as a mascot for the blog. As soon as I get the photo I will publish it. Crikey. I feel like a father waiting outside the delivery room. Help Jill by going to the site Animals Asia Foundation."

Text:
Jill Robinson: “This poor bear has clearly been in a cage for years and years and years. He’s not only performing severe stereotypic behaviour but it is to such an extent that he has actually worn the fur completely off his face and some of his body. He’s also got very dry and cracked pads, hyperkeratotic footpads which again indicate that this bear has not stood on solid ground for years and years. It’s a complete disgrace.
These two baby bears are actually sucking each other’s paws. This is the noise that they would actually make when they are sucking milk from their mother. The first bear, which doesn’t seem to be in too bad a condition, but we are quite worried about some of these here. You can see the suffocating cages and one of them has an eye problem.
But until we get them out here we can’t really see their condition but you can smell some of them. I think we have some problem bears here with infections. We think 29 have arrived but then again, until we get them off, we’re not sure. This one we are really worried out too. During the night he’s been moaning a lot. He’s been bringing his back legs up to his chest as though he has severe abdominal pain. He’s got a lot of ulcers around his mouth. He’s trying to scratch inside his mouth. He wants to eat but it’s obviously causing him some pain as well. He’s quite thin and he’s also blind in one eye.
So we have a lot of problems with this one too. I’m quite worried about him. Actually his face is horrible. It’s very badly ulcerated on the lips.
Interviewer: Do you think he’ll make it?
Jill Robinson: I don’t know. I don’t have a good feeling particularly about this one, but you know, they prove us wrong time and time again and we do see miracles, so let’s hope for this one. They are such a stoic animal, you know they can withstand so much pain and stress. No other animal would be able to adapt to that sort of environment, certainly no human being. But again we find time and time again, they pull through. But I can’t help being very very worried about this one.


Interviewer: “How long does a typical bear survive in these conditions?”
Jill Robinson: Until they fade away. Months and months and months. Dogs and cats wouldn’t survive that sort of trauma at all."