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South Korea said it would officially end its dwindling but criticized bear bile farming industry this week, but about 200 bears remain in pens and bred for their gallbladders.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced on Tuesday that the breeding and possession of bears, as well as the extraction of bear bile, will be banned from January 1. The change is in line with the revised Animal Rights Protection Act, which imposes jail terms of up to two or five years on offenders.
South Korea is one of the few countries that allows agriculture to extract bile from bears, primarily Asiatic black bears known as moon bears, for use in traditional medicine or food and is believed to increase vitality and stamina.
But the practice’s popularity has plummeted over the past two decades amid questions about its efficacy, the introduction of cheaper medical alternatives and public awareness of animal cruelty.
The plan is part of a wider agreement reached in 2022 by officials, farmers and animal rights activists that would ban bear bile farming from 2026. Animal rights groups handle the purchase of bears from farmers and the establishment of facilities to raise bears.
This year, a total of 21 bears were purchased and moved to a government-run reserve in the southern province of Geroa. But 199 bears remain on 11 farms across the country, according to officials, activists and farmers, and a dispute continues over how much to pay farmers who give up bears.
The environment ministry said it would provide existing farmers with a six-month grace period and impose penalties for bile extraction to the extent permitted by law, while financial incentives would also be offered to farmers who keep animals until they are sold and transferred.
“Our plan to end bear farming is an implementation of our country’s determination to improve wildlife welfare and fulfill related responsibilities,” Environment Minister Kim Sungwhan said in a statement. “We will work hard to help protect bears until the last one.”
Kim Kwang Soo, a farmer who raises 78 bears in the southern city of Dangjin, said other farmers have sold their bears at extremely low prices due to financial difficulties, but he has not sold any animals.
“This is a very bad policy,” King said. “I’m still going to obey the law because if I don’t, I’m going to suffer some disadvantage.”
Kim, who raised about 270 bears on his Karatsu farm in 2014, said he was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt from the cost of raising the remaining bears.
In 2014, there were about 1,000 bears on farms in South Korea. They are descendants of bears imported from South Korea. Malaysia Bear farming began in South Korea in the early 1980s, when South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries also began farming bears.
Animal rights groups praised the South Korean government for pushing ahead with the 2022 agreement but urged it to build larger conservation facilities to receive rescued bears.
The government says the Jeolla-do reserve can accommodate up to 49 bears, but activists say the number should not exceed 30. A second government facility was originally scheduled to be established in April, but the opening has been delayed until 2027 due to flooding.
“It is really good (for the government) to reflect on the bear bile industry and push for an end to it, but sadly there are not enough measures to protect bears,” said Cheon JinKyung, head of South Korea’s animal rights advocates group. Seoul. “There’s no place for these bears to stay.”