Dear Kizzi,
My name is Katie Warren, I’m 23 and from Effingham. I currently study in Eastbourne. I wondered whether you might be interested in giving some coverage to a protest I’m holding against the Asian bear bile industry.
On 17th October I will be padlocking approximately two metres of industrial weight steel chain (designed for pulling tractors) to my wrists, ankles and torso in protest of the bear bile industry in China. I’ll also be raising funds for AnimalsAsia.
I will wear the shackles, currently being welded by my brother James, continually for 5 days and nights whilst I attend lectures and other commitments (including my 24th birthday!). The shackles will weigh 15 lb. and make it extremely difficult to walk, raise/use my hands, stand upright or rest, and any clothes I wear will need to be safety pinned around me.
Though it is hard for me to stand up in front of people, I’ve undertaken this protest because the treatment of Moon bears in bile farms across Asia has disgusted me beyond belief, to the point where I couldn’t allow myself to not act. As I’ve been interested in animal rights since childhood, I’m stunned that I only learned of this issue a year ago whilst researching suicide for a psychology module. And this really highlights the need for awareness.
There is no other medium of animal cruelty with regular reports of it’s victims’ suicide. However many bears in this situation undertake this through self-starvation (often remedied by force feeding) or running into walls if given the smallest chance.
However it is not surprising, when you look at the conditions which the animals endure; and the level to which their misery is allowed to escalate, not over a period of months, but as much as 30 years. The bears are kept in tiny crush cages, sometimes so small that their fur and ears protrude, and painfully “milked” twice daily for bile from the gallbladder. Because of non-sterile needles or catheters, and open wounds the bears often receive antibiotics continually.
The experience leaves the bears with massive infections, tumours, deformities and organ failure – all whilst still being exploited for their bile. I do not understand why their perpetrators seem to act without one piece of mercy or empathy for the animals.
I do not understand how a person cannot experience pain at the sight of these animals being slowly mutilated; whose existence is comprised of nothing but terror and misery. The practice has made me very ashamed of my race. People need to know what is going on here. This needs to be challenged, the people who do this can’t be allowed to get away with it. The experience of these bears really is an unending, unremitting, living hell
This is the link to my cause’s donation page https://www.givey.com/shacklesforbilebears .
Thank you again.
Katie