20 Rare Bears Drained of Bile Get New Home

Timidly sniffing the air, 20 rare Asiatic black bears crept into a 27-acre sanctuary prepared to save them from farmers who take the animals’ bile for traditional Chinese medicine.

The site, in a bamboo forest in China’s southwest, is financed by a Hong Kong charity as part of efforts to stop “bear farming,” which involves surgically implanting tubes to drain the bile from captive animals.

Injuries and illness suffered by caged bears led to criticism from environmentalists, who say there are herbal and synthetic alternatives to the bile.