Dear Colleagues,
I am a behavioural ecologist working in international wildlife
conservation. For the past six years much of my work has focused on the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Last year
I begun to specialise specifically on welfare concerns within CITES (there are
many). Unfortunately, animal welfare issues are historically dismissed in
this forum as unscientific, emotive and irrelevant.
I am currently working on a short
study considering the veterinary and behavioural implications of bear farming in
China, where bile is extracted through permanent catheters or fistulas
from the gall bladder of live bears. In addition these animals are
subject to extreme confinement in barren, unstructured and uncomfortable
environments. As a result, chronic stereotypies are rife.
The results of this research will be
tabled at the upcoming CITES Animals Committee in December where important
decisions about whether or not China will be allowed to legally export the
products from these farms to the rest of the world will come up. To
supplement my report I am reaching out to colleagues in the academic and
veterinary community with regard to comments and statements outlining specific
professional concerns related to the health and welfare of these animals
(ideally in the form of letters by e-mail). If you would like to know more
please have a look at the notes attached to this e-mail (if you can't read the
format, please get in touch). I would like to urge those of you interested
in supporting this effort and sharing their expertise to contact me as soon as
possible. I am convinced that expert opinions will go far in persuading
many countries to oppose an expansion of this practice to international
markets. I know we are all very busy, but here is a chance for science to
make a real difference. Please take the time to read the attached notes
and get in touch. If you know of colleagues not on this list who might be
intersted in writing to me, please pass this message on.
Thank you in advance.
Barbara Maas
------------------------------------------------------