A few months ago while on a business trip, I had a chance to visit Angel Bridge at the foot of Long Day Mountain in China. At that time, we also went to explore a large bear farm which is surrounded by forest and beautiful scenery --- it is truly an isolated paradise. All of sudden I saw about fifteen large cages with bears in them. The farm owner told me this is a gallbladder farm, the purpose of which is to continuously extract fluid from the bears' gallbladders. Because of the high demand, it is an extremely profitable business.

When we arrived at the farm, the bears and the caretaker seemed to be getting along very well, all was calm. Suddenly four huge men showed up and the bears suddenly started screaming fearfully and rocking their cages hard as if they saw a ghost. The caretaker told me every morning at eight o'clock liquid is drawn from their gallbladders. Around seven-forty-five, the bears become agitated and have no appetite to eat and they start screaming and crying desperately for help.

In white uniforms, and without any emotion on their faces, the four men went into one of the cages. They quickly used a steel wire to snatch the bear by the neck, at which point the bear's eyes bulged out and it started gnashing its teeth and crying. They are so scared to death and this trauma causes them to defecate at the same time.

In the bear's stomach, there is a hole with a steel tube inserted directly into the gallbladder. Outside the area there is a plastic tube connected to the steel tube for drawing the liquid. The area is covered tightly with surgical tape. When the time comes, the tape and cover are removed and a syringe is used to withdraw the green liquid from the gallbladder. Three big men went in and pressed bear's 4 legs with force and inserted a syringe into plastic tube. When the dark green gallbladder juice was sucked from bear's body, the poor bear opened her mouth so big, her two eyes were bulging and her entire body was trembling so hard throughout the whole procedure.

This kind of severe torturing went on for about two hours until all the bears had been subjected to the same torture. The crying and screaming was so hard and loud and echoed the entire mountain and valley. It frightened me so much, my heart ached and my head started spinning.

After this unthinkable torture, the bears used their paws to hold their stomachs. They curled up and shivered and I could see tears in their bright little eyes...

Around 10:30, someone cried out that there had been an accident in cage number 5. We followed the owner to rush into the bear farm and were shocked at what we saw. A brown bear had managed to pull out his own intestines and was holding them up in the air, roaring and screaming, as if he were madly "protesting" the cruelty and insanity of the humans. There was blood all over the cage. It was so difficult to watch such a suicidal scene. Never in my life had I been in such shock or so devastated. At that time, someone rang the security alarm, immediately people rushed into the bear farm and waving the sharp ax and big steel hook. The owner shouted :"Hurry to 'rescue' the bear paws!" The man in the cage was reluctant to continue to go forward. But the owner stamped his feet and kept yelling: "You have to cut them off while the bear is alive. That is the only way they are saleable!" Right after that, I saw the sharp ax swung and the number 5 bear's paws were immediately chopped off with blood gushing out.....

Perhaps the killing smell filled in the cage number 5. The other bears then suddenly started to cry and scream sadly and desperately again and had the tendency to be violent. It shook the whole island. The farm owner had a butcher background. When the bears appeared ready to act violently and workers were panicking and running away, the owner stopped them and ordered them to put "steel jackets" on five of the most aggressive bears and give them a shot of morphine. As soon as the bears saw the "steel jackets", they immediately became quiet. It seemed the bears all got the painful lessons from the "steel jackets", otherwise they would not calm down so quickly.

This whole unbelievable incident affected me so deeply that their sad and innocent faces haunted me day and night and will continue to haunt me until the day I die. I felt a strong need to expose this incident to the world. Please widely distribute this true story and hope that everyone who reads this will do something to stop this kind of insanity from Chinese bear farms and to help these desperate poor creatures. Definitely, the Chinese Animals protection law needs to be improved, urgently.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION: Go the Link
http://gopetition.com/petitions/stop-cruelty-towards-bears/sign.html

Rahele Zamani was hanged this (2 January, 2008) morning at the Evin prison in Tehran.

Read Rahele's story here and express your outrage to the e-mail addresses at the bottom of the link. Please include an appeal on behalf of others, including children, who are facing imminent execution. Please see http://www.iranhr.net for more information on these cases.

http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2258

For more information about Rahele's and other similar cases in Iran, please see http://www.iranhr.net/ regarding human rights in Iran.

The brutal transport and slaughter of dogs and other animals is a daily occurence in Asian countries such as China, Thailand, The Philippines, and Korea.

Thanks to http://www.gan.ca for providing the following information. Please visit their website for other issues that urgently need your attention.

Despite a national law banning the practice, close to 500 000 dogs are slaughtered and eaten in the Philippines every year. Even though since 1998 it is illegal to consume this meat, the complete lack to enforce this law allows the markets and the restaurants to openly sell live dogs as well as dog meat.

The majority of Filipinos do not consume this meat, but its profitable commerce is growing, especially in the north of the Philippines in and around the region of Baguio City. Here the dogs are treated like vulgar objects. Crammed so tightly into wire cages they cannot move, struggling for every breath in the stifling heat with their mouths tied shut, dogs have their throats cut while still conscious.

It takes only minutes to let your voice be heard. Sending a protest e-mail or letter to your nearest embassy is the most effective way to put pressure on the government to do more to stop this barbaric practice. Below you will find contact information and a sample letter. Remember that expressing your own thoughts, in a polite manner, is most effective. Please check out my favourite links (see IAKA) and do the same on behalf of Korean dogs.

Please send an email to your local Philippines ambassador asking him/her to relay your concerns about the dog meat trade to the Philippines government. Feel free to use the sample letter below.

Canada
His Excellency
Ambassador Jose S. Brillantes
Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines
130 Albert Street, Suite 606
Ottawa, Ontario KIP 5G4
phone: (613) 233-1121
fax: (613) 233-4165
e-mail: embassyofphilippines@rogers.com

United States
His Excellency
Ambassador Albert F. Del Rosario
Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines
1600 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20036 USA
phone: (202) 467-9300
fax: (202) 466-6288
e-mail: info@philippineembassy-usa.org
website:www.philippineembassy-usa.org

United Kingdom
His Excellency
Ambassador Edgardo B. Espiritu
Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines
9a Palace Green
London W8 4QE
phone: 0207 361 4621
fax: 0207 937 2925
e-mail: consulars@philemb.org.uk
website: www.philemb.org.uk

Germany
Her Excellency
Ambassador Minerva Jean A. Falcon
Uhlandstrasse 97
10715 Berlin
phone: (+49-30) 864-9500
fax: (+49-30) 873-2551
e-mail: berlinpe@dfa.gov.ph
website: www.philippine-embassy.de

Or follow this link to find your Embassy: www.asia-planet.net/philippines/embassies.htm

Sample Letter
Dear Ambassador (name of ambassador),

I am writing to you to express my strong concerns about the dog meat trade in the Philippines. I commend your government for instituting national legislation banning the dog meat trade, but I understand that stronger laws and increased enforcement are needed to put a final end to this cruel practice.

I was horrified to learn from Global Action Network that dogs destined for slaughter in Baguio are transported under such appalling conditions that up to 50% of them die en-route, while the survivors have their throats cut while still conscious.

I urge you to do all within your power to encourage your government to further its efforts to eliminate the dog meat trade completely. As a compassionate traveler, I choose tourism destinations that are committed to treating animals humanely. Only when the dog meat trade has been ended, will I consider traveling to the Philippines.

Sincerely,
(Your name and address)

In addition to writing your local Philippines ambassador you can further voice your concerns directly to the Philippines President through her website or by writing a letter urging her to put an end to the Philippines dog meat trade.

Philippines President webpage: www.op.gov.ph/contact.asp.

Philippines President mailing address:

Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street
San Miguel Manila NCR 1005

The fate of dogs slated for death in shelters across the U.S. is being posted on a Web site that aims to save their lives by offering them for adoption.

Dogsindanger.com works with more than 120 shelters nationwide that destroy dogs. How much time the dogs get before death varies from state to state. In New York City, for instance, a stray dog must be kept a minimum of three days, while a shelter has the legal right to immediately destroy an animal that is abandoned there by its owner.

About 4 million dogs are put to death each year in the United States, by injection or gas.

See www.dogsindanger.com or this article from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21283986/

Situated along the southeast coast of Puerto Rico, lies Yabucoa. The animals abandoned or born on the Yabucoa coast are destined to die a painful death. On a daily basis animals are being poisoned, beaten, or butchered to their demise. Animals here and throughout Puerto Rico are desperate to be rescued and receive the loving care we believe every animal deserves.

Donate or Sponsor a Dog to be taken off the beach, Vetted and flown to Florida to a no-kill shelter for adoption
http://www.manosporpatas.org/donate.htm
OR
Even better if you are a tourist and will be flying from anywhere in the U.S to Puerto Rico and back, consider escorting a dog back with you. They are always looking for people to accompany (since there has to be one person per dog) on a flight with the dogs that have been rescued and are being sent to a local U.S shelter. Become a doggie flyer! Fly with a pup and save a life! Simply contact them with your flight plans. No work or worry required! To find out more about this program or donating your sky mileage visit
http://www.islanddog.org/sponseradogcat.html

For more details on the problem and how you can help
http://www.manosporpatas.org

I have 4 cats and love them dearly. However, what I don't love is when they kill birds -- and we all know that they do! In fact, millions of birds are killed each year Fluffy and Felix. I live in a very rural area, so keeping my cats inside in the middle of summer is not really an option because they would go insane -- or drive me insane, whichever comes first -- so when I heard about the Catbib and decided to give it a try. So far so good! They haven't come home with any birds and they go about their merry little lives as usual -- minus the hunting. Read more about the Catbib and how it works at http://www.catbib.com -- you might just save some feathered friends from the clutches of your feline companions!

Norwegian company GC Rieber is considered the economic backbone of the Canadian sealing industry, buying 50-80% of the skins from seals killed in the annual hunt. Go to their website, click on "contact" and send a polite, yet firm, e-mail to the company.
http://www.gcrieber-skinn.no/gcrieber/main.nsf/frontpages/englishskin

Seal Pelt Fur Industry Exposed - contact Birger Christensen, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Versace -
http://www.harpseals.org/hunt/pelts.html

For more information about the seal hunt, the reasons behind it and what you can do to stop it, see http://www.stopthesealhunt.com

"Meat production takes a lot more energy and resources than growing vegetables or grains, and 18 percent of human-generated greenhouse gases come from the livestock industry. You don't have to be a vegetarian to make a difference in this area: Try skipping meat just one day a week. If every American had one meat-free day per week, it would reduce emissions as much as taking 8 million cars off the roads."

(Excerpt from: "It's easy being green! 7 ways to help the planet
Lowering your family's carbon footprint is simpler than you'd expect") http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21601409/)

Going out for a night on the town? Try a vegetarian restaurant. Mother Nature, Animals, and your body will be happy that you did! Need help finding one? Here's some help: http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/

Horse fighting has now been outlawed almost worldwide. It still thrives, however, in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, China and South Korea. Brutal and inhumane, these spectacles can be anything from featured events in annual fiestas and thanksgiving festivals to scrappy events put together by locals for the purposes of an afternoon's gambling and entertainment, or to honor a special guest. Horse fighting takes place in city stadiums or abandoned playing fields in remote villages and provinces. In more highly populated areas they may also be conducted at a local racetrack.

Countries staging horse fights defend it as a cultural tradition that has gone on for hundreds of years, and resist any attempts to ban it. While tradition has long been used to legitimize horse fighting, money and gambling appears to be the real reason for its continued existence.

This petition will be sent to the United Nations with a request that they do something about putting pressure on these countries to stop the practices.

Copies will also be sent to the various Heads of state of the OFFENDING countries.

Sign here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-horse-fighting-in-korea-china-phillipines

It's no secret that the Chinese fur trade is one of the most brutal and inhumane attrocties that takes place in the world on a daily basis. And many
westerners are ignorantly (or maybe not so ignorantly) supporting the trade by buying products which contain fur from dogs, cats, racoons, foxes, and other animals -- all the result of this horrible and brutal slaughter. Some of the products which contain fur are, ironically, on the toys that we buy for our pets. Ever seen those little furry toy mice in pet shops? What about those cute little cat figurines in little baskets that a lot of gift shops carry now? The fur most likely came from a Chinese cat or other animal. Fur trim on coats, boots, and other clothing is often mislabeled, which several EU countries are trying to crack down on now. However, until the consumer refuses to buy these products, they will likely keep on creeping onto the market.

I wish to credit all the caring individuals out there who have started groups on Facebook and elsewhere on the Internet for this information.

Millions of dogs and cats in China are being bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and strangled with wire nooses so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets. This fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to countries throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers in retail stores. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States, so the bottom line is that because dog and cat fur is so often mislabeled, if you're buying fur, there's no way to tell whose skin you're wearing.
PETA went into an animal market in Southern China and found cats and dogs languishing in tiny cages, visibly exhausted. Some had been on the road for days, transported in flimsy wire-mesh cages with no food or water. Twenty cats were forced into a single cage. Because of the cross-country transport in such deplorable conditions, our investigators saw dead cats on top of the cages, dying cats and dogs inside the cages, and dogs and cats with open wounds. Some animals were lethargic or frightened, and others were fighting with each other, driven insane from confinement and exposure.
Up to 8,000 animals are loaded onto each truck, with cages stacked on top of each other. Cages containing live animals are commonly tossed from the top of the trucks onto the ground 10 feet below, shattering the legs of the animals inside them. Many of the animals we saw still had collars on, a sign that they were once someone's beloved companions, stolen to be made into fur coats.

As if peddling the skin and fur of a tortured, electrocuted adult animal weren't bad enough, some heartless designers take fashion cruelty to a whole new level with a particularly grisly "killer" look: astrakhan, also known as "broadtail" or "Persian wool" the fur of newborn and fetal karakul lambs who are bred by the thousands in Central Asia for the bloody fur trade.

Because their unique, highly prized curly fur begins to unwind and straighten within three days of birth, many karakul lambs are slaughtered when they are only 1 or 2 days old. The rest don't even make it that far. In order to get a karakul fetus's hide called "broadtail" in the industry and valued for its exceptional smoothness. The mother's throat is slit and her stomach slashed open to remove the developing lamb. A mother typically gives birth to three lambs before being slaughtered along with her fourth fetus, about 15 to 30 days before it is due to be born. As many as 4 million karakul lambs are slaughtered for their fur every year.

The fur industry tries to justify karakul lamb fur as a byproduct, but with a single karakul lamb coat selling for up to $12,000 and "broadtail" fetus coats fetching as much as $25,000, it's little surprise that the mother sheep and her baby's skinned carcass are usually regarded simply as trash.

And who's profiting from such disgusting cruelty? Designers Ralph Lauren, Karl Lagerfeld, Fendi, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and Jean-Paul Gaultier use astrakhan, and Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's sell it on their own racks. But fashionistas with a heart aren't buying it. Claudia Croft, fashion editor of the Sunday Times Style Magazine in London recently called astrakhan "the cruelest and most vicious fur." And "Material Girl" Madonna hasn't been seen in her astrakhan coat since designer pal Stella McCartney scolded her for "wearing a fetus."

Don't buy or wear any fur.

If you see karakul lamb fur for sale, write to the store owners or managers, let them know where it comes from, and urge them to pull it from the shelves.

Furriers say their "farms" are modern: Their cages are spacious and clean, the animals are happy, and death is humane. You be the judge. A special report from US-based People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals.

Animals raised to become someone's fur coat spend their days exposed to the elements in row after row of barren, tiny, urine and faeces encrusted cages. Investigations have found animals with gruesome injuries going without medical care and foxes and minks pacing in endless circles, crazy from the confinement.

Minks, foxes, chinchillas, raccoons, and other animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to tiny, filthy cages, constantly circling and pacing back and forth from stress and boredom, some animals even self-mutilating or cannibalising cagemates. The cramped and overcrowded conditions are especially distressing to solitary animals, like minks.

During the summer, hundreds of thousands of animals endure searing heat and suffer from dizziness and vomiting before dying of heat exhaustion. Baby animals are the most common victims, as they succumb faster to dehydration. In the winter, caged animals have nowhere to seek refuge from freezing temperatures, rain, sleet, and snow. Farmers often kill animals by anal or genital electrocution, which causes them to experience the intense pain of a heart attack while fully conscious. Other killing methods include neck-breaking and suffocation. Sometimes animals are only stunned and are then skinned alive.

More than two million dogs and cats are killed each year for use in the international fur trade. Dog and cat fur is sold as hats, gloves, decorative accessories on coats, and even toy stuffed animals. Last month, HSI (Humane Society International) investigators purchased a fur-trimmed coat and a toy cat from a Sydney store, both products turned out to be made with dog and cat fur. HSI have carried out global investigations into this cruelty and their findings include:

The death toll is conservatively estimated to be in the range of two million dogs and cats killed annually for their fur. Usually, 10 to 12 dogs and 24 cats are killed to manufacture one coat - more if puppies or kittens are used.

Inhumane means are employed to kill animals for their fur. Investigators witnessed and recorded animals dying by slow suffocation, hanging, bludgeoning and clubbing, or bleeding to death. All of these methods involve severe panic, trauma, and needless prolonged suffering.

Dog and cat fur is aggressively marketed and sold in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Dogs and cats may be killed in one country, processed in another, and finished products sold anywhere in the world.

Australian laws do not prohibit cat and dog fur entering Australia and labelling requirements are wholly inadequate allowing consumers to be misled.

Since we can't all just go to China and stop this terrible pratice, the best way to be heard and taken seriously is through peaceful protest, or for those of us who don't live in areas where this is possible, e-mail is the greatest tool. So here's a sample e-mail that you can send to the Chinese embassy of your home country. Feel free to edit as you please, but remember to be courteous and polite. Being rude or ignorant is not very effective and just makes it harder for us to be taken seriously. You will find embassy e-mail addresses below.
-------------------------------------------------

Your Excellency,

The pictures shown on television reveal that the conditions under which fur animals are kept und killed for the fur industry in China are unacceptable to say the least. The narrow cages at the so called fur farms are totally inadequate. The wire mesh cages do not allow for the basic needs of these wild animals. We are especially shocked by the indescribable attrocities committed at the markets. Workers grab the foxes and racoon dogs by their hind legs and swing them to the ground. The animals struggle or convulse and lie trembling on the floor. Frequently the animals regain consciousness while the workers start the skinning proccess. A horrifying experience. When the animals start to move too much, they are clubbed repeatedly on their head or they are strangled by stepping on them. There seems to be a total lack of awareness that an animal can feel fear and pain.

We urge your government to pass a national animal welfare legislation that goes beyond the existing endangered species protection act and to adapt measures to enforce this animal welfare law. The content of the video documentation suggests that a national awareness campaign and humane education courses at schools are urgently needed as well. China's brutal killing of street dogs in Beijing in preparation for the Olympics is an excellent indication of the need for change.

We kindly ask you to convey our concern to your government, as this terrible treatment of animals does nothing to improve China's image abroad, nor encourage tourists to visit China.

Sincerely yours

Name:
Address:

----------------------------------------
Canadian residents: Ambassador H.E. Lu Shumin
chinaemb_ca@mfa.gov.cn

US residents: Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov