From Hunting, to Capturing, to Breeding the Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus)

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In 1985 an experimental method was introduced by Pingrang Zoo for extracting bile from living black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus). This method has since become a large-scale production in China. There are now 30 farms producing the bear-gall powder in provinces of northeast and southwest China from 4,000 captive bears. Bear gall is a medicine from wild bears, quite rare and expensive. The rapid development of bile-extracting methods from living bears is an attempt somewhat following the successful example of farming Sika deer (Cervus nippon) for antlers, where the farmed population is now approaching 300,000, which is more than the wild population of Sika deer. The bears in bear farms were captured from the wild. From now on, domesticated bears must be increasing every year in farms until a population of second-generation offspring is established and capturing bears from the wild is stopped. Considering that the black bear would become a new experimental animal in the near future for the scientific research of osteology and physiology, developing these techniques of breeding and domesticating is of remarkable significance.