Tortured Bear Kills Cub, Then Self.

A mother bear held in captivity on a bile farm in China was driven to kill her cub before committing suicide.

A belief held in traditional Chinese medicine is that the consumption of bear bile can have incredible healing powers. The estimated 14,000 bears in captivity for the bile industry have holes drilled in their gallbladders so that bile can be constantly drained out and sold. The bears live their entire lives in tiny cages only slightly bigger than their bodies. Because of the extreme torture and stress bears suffer, investigations of the industry have cited numerous cases of animals being driven to madness.

A recent report from a Chinese bile farm tells of a mother and her cub who became the latest victims of a maddening industry. After hearing her cub cry out in pain, the mother bear broke free, smothered her cub, and ran head first into a wall killing herself.

This is truly a tragic end for these suffering bears. It’s hard to say whether the mother bear was just driven insane or if she was trying to spare her child the tortured life that she was forced to live since birth. Who ever thought that sucking on bear bile was a good idea anyway?