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Asiatic black bear Photo: Koalie on Flickr Creative Commons

In Vietnam last week, 19 moon bears—also called Asiatic black bears, a species considered by the (IUCN)—were rescued from a farm where they were found in small metal cargo containers, with evidence suggesting that their gall bladders had been illegally “milked” to excrete bile used for medicinal purposes.

The 19-bear release was the largest rescue at one time in Vietnam, according to , which helped transport the bears.

Bear farms are relatively common in Southeast Asia, particularly in China; official figures show farm numbers there , but 7,000 bears are still purportedly held captive, Animals Asia reports. (WSPA) puts the total number of bears on farms across Asia at 12,000.

In , bear farms are legal when they are licensed by the government. But it’s illegal there to hunt bears for their parts or to set up new bear farms. In , it’s been illegal to poach Asiatic black bears since 1992, and elevation of the species' population status in 2002 made bear farming essentially illegal.

Bears on these farms get “milked” daily via surgically implanted tubes, generating a few milliliters of bile per milking, . The bile then gets sold for use in what animal rights’ groups call Traditional Chinese Medicine or Traditional Asian Medicine, to treat ailments ranging from cardiac illness and impotence to headaches and hemorrhoids. It’s also sold in myriad forms and countries, according to The Humane Society. But the WSPA states that —herbals and synthetics, for example—work just as effectively.

The 19 bears removed from the Vietnam farm were taken to the Vietnam Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Tam Dao, where for health reasons.