Bear-product trade 'rife here'

Animal-welfare group goes undercover, shooting footage of illegal acts

NEARLY three out of four traditional Chinese medicine shops here sell bear gall bladder and bile products, claims a new animal-welfare group here.

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), which was formed in May, said that three of its volunteers made 'undercover' checks at 68 medical halls here over three months from May to July.

Galling sight: Two investigators from the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, posing as tourists, hold bear gall bladders at a Chinese medicine shop, in video footage they shot secretly. Trading in bear products is illegal here.

According to its report, three out of 10 shopkeepers approached knew that the trade was illegal and most of the customers were Chinese Singaporeans and tourists from China and Korea.

The society has sent its findings, including video footage that volunteers shot surreptitiously in the medicine shops, to the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), said Acres spokesman Paige Lee, a public-relations officer who volunteers with Acres.

The video shows shopkeepers taking bear gall bladders and bile pills from refrigerators or cupboards at the back of the shop when the investigators asked for them.

Several shopkeepers were also captured on video advising the Acres investigators, who posed as tourists, on how to get these products past Customs officers undetected.

Most of the products were not displayed openly because the shopkeepers feared a spot check by AVA officials, said another of the group's volunteers, Miss Magdelene Tan, 24, an IT analyst.

One of the three investigators, Miss Lee said that taxi drivers used the bear bile pills to reduce 'heatiness', and the pills were also used for fever, haemorrhoids and liver disease.

She said: 'We have the power to change things now.

'Let's continue to use Chinese medicine as it is part of our culture, but let's buy herbal alternatives to products which cause suffering.'

Acres hopes to work with the authorities on this issue, she said.

The AVA confirmed on Thursday that it had received the Acres report and would be looking into it.

The society draws its members mainly from university students and young professionals such as Mr Jagdish Ramakrishnan, 34, creative director of advertising firm Saatchi and Saatchi.

Acres president Louis Ng, 24, a biology student at the National University of Singapore, said that the society aimed to improve the welfare of animals in captivity.

It also aimed to use scientific evidence to persuade people to change lifestyle habits that threatened animals.

The bear campaign, its first project, was funded by the British-based World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

The WSPA, which was set up in 1956, claims a membership of over 400 animal protection societies in 91 countries.

The director of its bear campaign, Mr Victor Watkins, 47, said that a WSPA investigation in China two years ago found that Singapore was one of the top export markets for bear farms.

So far, no one has been convicted in Singapore for selling bear products, said Miss Lee.

The society plans to take the bear campaign to the public through roadshows in schools and shopping centres, such as the Heeren and Ngee Ann City, over the next three months.