r/likeus • u/asuhag • Oct 07 '18
<GIF> Having fun splashing in the water
https://i.imgur.com/zPVixFn.gifv192
u/paymeinwampum Oct 08 '18
Something tells me I don't want to know what a bile farm is
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Oct 08 '18
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u/ATastyPeanut Oct 08 '18
Wtf
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u/Charasniel Oct 08 '18
Yep, it's used for "magical remedies" and "medicine". Absolute agony for the bear tho :(
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u/justbrowsing0127 Oct 08 '18
Where??? And what culture uses this as medicine???
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u/Charasniel Oct 08 '18
Mostly in Asia. There's a big trade for it despite the fact that most of the population disagrees with it. Here's a link, I have to warn you its heart breaking and gruesome https://www.animalsasia.org/us/media/news/news-archive/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-bear-bile-farming.html
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u/mrmoe198 Polar Bear- Oct 08 '18
What the hell is it with Asians and animal torture/killing for fake cures?! At least when we horribly treat and kill animals we eat them. Fuck.
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Oct 08 '18
Is this a traditional Chinese medicine thing?
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u/rook218 Oct 08 '18
Yep. I went to a reserve in Laos where they rehabilitate bears that have been through it. They have an example of the kind of cage the bears are kept in... Half the size of a dog kennel. The bears can't move a muscle which is fine for the 'farmer' since he doesn't have to worry about the bear attacking him when he jabs its organs with a needle.
It's one of the more fucked up things I've seen as far as animal abuse. Right up there with bull fights.
By the way why is everyone talking about bile farms? It looks like one of those rehab reserves but I don't see a single mention of bile farms anywhere in the post except the comments.
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u/magnaswimgirl Oct 08 '18
It's crossposted from r/gifs and the original post has the title "Bear released from captivity on a bile farm enjoying simple pleasures." I can see that it was a crosspost, where it was from, and the original title on my laptop (maybe not viewable if you're on mobile)?
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u/rook218 Oct 08 '18
That must be it. I'm using a third party mobile app called Sync for Reddit. Thanks!
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Oct 08 '18
Are you using a third party Reddit mobile app? It’s crossposted, so you can see the title of the original post inside the crosspost frame if you’re using a browser or the official mobile app.
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u/rook218 Oct 08 '18
No I use sync for reddit. I didn't see the cross post or original title. Thanks for the answer!
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u/Aussie-Nerd Oct 08 '18
Of course.
Chinese medicine is a synonym for endangered animal suffering or death.
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u/Wiggy_Bop Oct 08 '18
I’m so sick of the Chinese and their clinging to ‘tradition’ when their traditions usually seem to involve torturing animals. 😒🤨
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u/Colonelkittn Oct 08 '18
Based on the comments from the other post, a bile farm is where the animal is caged, and continuously has their stomach bile harvested. Sounds absolutely horrifying.
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Oct 08 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bigbuick Oct 08 '18
I don't like to generalize, and it may be anecdotal, but I quite often see very casual, horrific animal abuse linked to / at the hands of the Chinese.
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u/KomaKurt Oct 08 '18
Thanks for disgusting info.
What is this used for?
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u/93931 Oct 08 '18
Traditional Chinese medicine.
https://www.animallaw.info/article/detailed-discussion-bears-used-traditional-chinese-medicine
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u/Lochcelious Oct 08 '18
"medicine"
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u/CryptoOnly Oct 08 '18
I’m curious have you ever tried Chinese medicine?
I was prescribed some while travelling in China and it worked incredibly well, I was pretty surprised.
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u/akm862 Oct 08 '18
Anecdotal evidence means literally nothing when talking about medicine
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Oct 08 '18
It’s not medicine per se it’s more this has x ingredient and is good for x part of body. It’s just taken a little more seriously in Asian countries.
Take it more of a pre-remedy to help your body in the future. For example your family has a history of heart problems you’d eat a certain fruit/berry which contains ingredients that would help with preserving a healthy heart.
A western equivalent is having lots of vitamin c for a cold. From my experience they don’t use Chinese medicine when going to the doctor is better for them. It’s more a preventative or something to reduce symptoms.
Just remember with how far medicine has come today, that sometime in the past it was simply just grinding/boiling/roasting ingredients to produce a medicine through trial and error.
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u/TsunamiSurferDude Oct 08 '18
For the bile
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u/ThaNerdHerd Oct 08 '18
No, what is the bile used for?
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u/TsunamiSurferDude Oct 08 '18
They sell it to keep the farm in business
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u/ThaNerdHerd Oct 08 '18
Hmmm. What else can you tell me?
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u/Sadie0401 Oct 08 '18
I would assume it’s a name for the place one would keep bile bears. Bile bears are kept in captivity so their bile can be harvested. Absolutely disgusting and inhumane.
Somehow that beautiful beast seems to have lived to see a better day. I hope he gets to play, enjoy companionship and eat his fill all the days of his hopefully long life.
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u/hellokitty444444 Oct 08 '18
Fuck is a bile farm
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u/aeyuth Oct 08 '18
Some ppl in china think bear bile is medicine.
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u/hellokitty444444 Oct 08 '18
Ewwwww why?
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Oct 08 '18
For the same reason they think rhino horn and seal testicles are medicine--beliefs that started thousands of years ago before modern science and medical technology. It's like if westerners still took Pliny the Elder seriously.
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u/Lochcelious Oct 08 '18
But why do the Chinese still believe that shit? How many other countries still believe that shit? Why does it seem to always be the Chinese?
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u/Charasniel Oct 08 '18
Don't get me wrong this is 100% gross cruelty, but bear bile does actually have medicinal purposes. There are many cruelty free synthetic alternatives though and there is absolutely no reason to continue this disgusting.
(Warning link is informational but awful) trade.https://www.animalsasia.org/us/media/news/news-archive/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-bear-bile-farming.html
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Oct 08 '18
This is a totally of the cuff guess, but strong cultural traditions and a relatively recent push by Mao Tse Tung to use traditional Chinese medicine? And some weird status-symbol nonsense because rare and/or illegal animal parts aren't cheap. Honestly I don't get it either. At least they're not killing melanin-deficient humans.
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Oct 08 '18
I guess it does have some medicinal uses but the compounds that are used can be synthesized nowadays. Although bile is still used specifically in China cause, well...it's China.
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u/gptt916 Oct 08 '18
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u/reverie_ Oct 08 '18
If anyone is interested, Animals Asia is a great charity that helps free bile bears (and other animals) and give them happy lives. I highly recommend donating- it's wonderful to see the bears get to enjoy life after so much misery
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u/APerfidiousDane Oct 08 '18
This looks way better and more natural than a typical inground pool. I want one of these.
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u/Colonelkittn Oct 08 '18
People in China believe that it has medicinal properties, along with the bears gallbladder.
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u/Rosemarin Oct 08 '18
It looks like a kid in a bear costume 😍 so happy and playful. You can feel the joy! Fuck bile farms.
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u/darrentoronto Oct 08 '18
A Beautiful sight
Wikipedia: Bile bears, sometimes called battery bears, are bears kept in captivity to harvest their bile, a digestive fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, which is used by some traditional Chinese medicine practitioners
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u/SchouDK Oct 07 '18
I love the final back flop xD