Products containing bear bile are being illegally imported from China and sold in Canada, according to a new report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

Investigations by WSPA show that bear farms in China are a primary source, and WSPA has teamed up with Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Directorate to test detection kits that will help to stem this illegal bear trade.

Cage to Consumer, a new WSPA report being released, summarizes findings from the undercover investigations conducted in 2006. The report shows that Traditional Asian Medicine shops in eight countries - Canada, USA, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand - offered bear bile and bear gall products for sale and that most of these products originated from China's bear farms.

"WSPA's investigations confirm what we suspected" says Peter Davies, director general of WSPA. "These results show that bear farms are giving rise to illegal trade as well as being inherently cruel. In light of this evidence we urge the Chinese Government to reconsider its position on bear farming and instigate a phase-out of the bear farming industry in China."

As part of its on-going campaign to end the cruel practice of farming bears, WSPA developed a unique kit to detect bear proteins in products. The bear detection kits are being field-tested over a six to twelve-month period by Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Directorate and will help identify and stamp out the illegal trade in bear products.

"WSPA developed the detection kits to protect bears and help combat the multi-billion dollar illegal trade in wildlife" says WSPA Canada Programs Manager Pat Tohill. "It's estimated that wildlife trade ranks behind arms and drug trafficking, and trade in bear products directly causes suffering to bears and threatens wild bears in Canada and abroad."

Bear bile and bear gall have long been used by consumers of traditional Asian medicine. Since the 1980s bile has been extracted from live bears kept on bear farms to create such products.

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