Trade in Paws, Gallbladders Endangers Asia’s Bears : Remedies: Wealthy patrons pay hundreds of dollars for a special soup, believed to increase fertility, in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Illegal trafficking in bear parts for use in Oriental folk medicines is driving the animal to near extinction in Asia, wildlife officials say, and the spread of poaching could threaten North America’s bear population.

The bear, symbol of strength and fortitude, is used as a walking pharmacy throughout much of Asia. Its body parts are reputed to do everything from curing hemorrhoids to bolstering sexual vigor.

“There are bear parts syndicates operating throughout North America and Asia,” said Tom Milliken, a Japan-based conservationist. “Some of the parts are used in the (United) States but most are smuggled into Asia, especially South Korea.”

A single bear gallbladder fetches up to $5,000 in Asia, where it is valued by many people as a powerful aphrodisiac and wonder cure for cancer, headaches, hemorrhoids and indigestion.

Wealthy patrons pay hundreds of dollars to dine on bear-paw soup, believed to increase fertility, in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Population figures for the nomadic wild bear are hard to pin down, but wildlife officials say poaching is taking a heavy toll.

“In California, poaching has led to there being about 25% (fewer) bears than there were a couple of years ago,” Milliken said. “There has been an upsurge of poaching across the northern United States and much of Canada.

“Widespread poaching is helping to bring the wild bear population in Asia dangerously low as well.”

The Asiatic black bear is all but extinct in Afghanistan and Iran and has dwindled to near that level in Pakistan and China, according to Christopher Servheen, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife official who has traveled the globe researching the decline of wild bears.

In a monograph published by the International Assn. for Bear Research and Management, Servheen wrote that unless Asian governments put more emphasis on halting trafficking in bear parts the species would be wiped out within a few years.

Hong Kong, a traditional clearinghouse for endangered species bound for the soup pot or medicine shop, has a major role in the Asiatic black bear trade, officials say.

“A lot of bear parts, especially from China, have come to Hong Kong and gone back out again,” said David Melville, a conservation officer with the Worldwide Fund for Nature. “It is difficult to catch smugglers and, frankly, the government doesn’t seem to be all that concerned about it.”

Traditional medicine shops in the British colony openly--although illegally--peddle body parts of endangered animals. Shop owners say they do a brisk trade in bear gallbladders.

Wildlife officials estimate that about 1,000 bear gallbladders are consumed each year in Hong Kong. But the bulk of Asian bear parts and virtually all North American ones go to South Korea, they say.