Bear Protection Act Reintroduced in Congress
"I, for one, will not stand by and
allow our own bear populations to be decimated by poachers."
US SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL UPON INTRODUCTION OF
THE BEAR PROTECTION ACT
As readers of the AWI Quarterly know well, North American black bears are under increased threat from poachers, smugglers and dealers who exploit these magnificent creatures to supply the lucrative trade in bear parts and products.
Specifically, bear gallbladders and bile are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to treat maladies ranging from delirium to hemorrhoids and are now also used in high-priced cosmetics such as shampoo.
As Asiatic black bear populations have been decimated for the bear parts trade, unscrupulous profiteers have set their sights on America's viable bear population. Federal legislation is sorely needed to create a uniform legal framework protecting American bears from this threat.
On February 5, 1997, Senator Mitch McConnell (R,KY) introduced "The Bear Protection Act" (BPA) in the US Senate (S 263). As of April 30 there were 31 co-sponsors of this bipartisan bill. Simultaneously, Congressman John Porter (R,IL) introduced identical legislation (HR 619) in the House of Representatives—also a bipartisan effort with over 60 co-sponsors.
Both versions of the bill
Notably, the BPA will not usurp states' authority for managing resident bear populations or preempt strong state laws that already prohibit commercialization of bear parts. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that the United States does not contribute to the disastrous trade in bear parts. It prohibits importation of products from endan-gered Asian bears, closes the loopholes created by the current patchwork of state laws, and upholds America's international treaty obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
This legislation will help maintain a healthy American bear population and will send a message to poachers, smugglers and consumers the world over that the US will not tolerate an attack on our bears and will not participate in this horrible black market trade. As Senator McConnell noted, "Although we cannot restore the numbers we once had, we can insure that the remaining bears are not sold for profit to the highest bidder."
Pelly Petition Against South Korea Submitted to
Interior Secretary Babbitt
According to a South Korean tour guide,
"of the 360,000 South Koreans who traveled to Thailand in 1995, approximately
30,000 consumed bear and/or bear parts while in the country.... Tourists
pay from US$7,500 to US$9,000 for a live bear. The bear is then drowned,
its gallbladder removed, and its meat and paws consumed."
SIERRA CLUB LEGAL DEFENSE FUND PETITION
The day following Congressional introduction of the Bear Protection Act, 133 organizations throughout the country jointly sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt requesting that South Korea be certified under the Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman's Protective Act of 1967 for its continuing role in the global bear parts trade. Such certification enables the President to impose economic sanctions against South Korea, much like those imposed on Taiwan for its leading role in the trade in parts and products of endangered tigers and rhinos. South Korea is currently undermining the effective implementation of existing bear protection under CITES, which it joined in 1993.
Although only a handful of Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) remains in South Korea, domestic demand for bear products appears insatiable. Bear parts consumption in Asian countries—such as South Korea—threatens not only the few remaining indigenous South Korean bears, but all other bear species throughout the world, including American black bears (Ursus americanus), whose gall bladders are virtually indistinguishable once removed from the animal.
The Pelly petition, filed by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc., contains revelations of South Korean abuses of CITES regulations intended to protect various bear species. The petition notes that "there have never been any seizures or prosecutions of bear gall smuggling in South Korea. In this vacuum of official acknowledgment and action, South Koreans continue to consume bears at an alarming pace."
The Petition cites many specific, illegal acts driven by the demand
for gall bladders, bile, paws and meat including:
There is no justification for permitting a country whose citizens engage in such repeated, egregious circumventions of international conservation agreements to go unpunished. At the very least, Pelly certification by the Secretary of the Interior will let the South Korean government and others throughout the world know that the United States takes its obligations under CITES seriously and will not tolerate violation by other nations or their citizens. Strong action by the United States against South Korea for its flouting of the Convention will lay the framework for further achievements in bear protection at the upcoming CITES Conference of the Parties this summer in Zimbabwe.
Bear Protection on the Agenda at June CITES Meeting
"Impacts (on brown bear populations)
are likely to increase as high prices continue to provide an incentive
to poach bears, and as access to bear habitat increases."
CITES LISTING PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY FINLAND
Following due consideration at both the CITES Animals Committee and Standing Committee meetings last year, the subject of the illegal global trade in bear parts and products has been officially listed on the agenda for the upcoming tenth CITES Conference of the Parties (see "CITES Takes an Important First Step to Help Bears," AWI Quarterly, Fall 1996). It is AWI's hope that the United States CITES Delegation will join China in calling for passage of a resolution declaring a global moratorium on the trade in bear parts of all bear species, particularly the wildly profitable gall bladders. Such action will play a tremendous role in ending the threat to the world's bears from the commercialization of their valuable parts.
Additional specific attention to the plight of brown bears (Ursus arctos) has been brought to the attention of CITES delegates in separate proposals submitted to the CITES Secretariat by Finland, with the support of Bulgaria and Jordan. These submissions seek to raise the level of protection afforded all remaining populations of brown bears (excluding North America) from Appendix II to Appendix I, thus preventing trade in brown bear parts. This action is another effort to reduce problems associated with the visual similarity of brown bear parts such as the gall bladder with similar organs of other endangered and threatened bear species.
Adoption of the proposal will add an essential level of protection to the dwindling populations of brown bears throughout Europe, Asia, and the former Soviet Union, and hopefully will be passed expeditiously.
Brown bear range disbursement 
is extremely diverse, occurring in small pockets of land throughout Asia,
Europe and North America. As human populations continue to grow, brown
bear populations become increasingly fragmented and fragile. Further, worldwide
deforestation, especially throughout Turkey, Russia and surrounding rangelands,
has restricted available suitable habitat for brown bears.
The brown bear is already extinct in many European countries, and population status reports indicate no more than 110,000 to 120,000 brown bears inhabit the Eastern Hemisphere. As brown bear numbers vary from country to country, so, too, does the level of protection each population receives. According to Finland's proposal, in France, Poland, the Ukraine and other countries the species is "fully protected," while Romania allows bear hunts "under special license, but only in season." Japan, with an unknown but "increasingly isolated sub-population" of brown bears, maintains minimal legal protection and permits bear hunts "for sport and as a pest."
Finland's proposal notes that "poaching of brown bear and illegal trade in bear parts is at its most severe in the Russian Far East" and that "the Russian Mafia is heavily involved in the illegal wildlife trade." The Eastern Hemispheric illegal bear parts trade embodies a complex smuggling web where: "illegally imported hunting trophies from Romanian bears have been seized in Spain," "German sport hunters circumvent domestic legislation prohibiting the import of trophies from Romanian bears by passing them through Russia first," and "illegal trade into Greece provides an opening into the whole EU [European Union]."
It is important that CITES delegates support proactive measures in accordance with the "precautionary principle" and recognize the danger brown bears face from these intricate and extensive poaching and smuggling operations. As the proposal acknowledges: "To the poacher, it does not matter which species of bear is hunted... if traders are found with galls from [endangered Asiatic] black bears, they merely claim that they are from brown bears." An Appendix I listing will not only directly benefit brown bears, but also highly endangered bear species* whose gallbladders, as mentioned above, are visually indistinguishable from those of brown bears and are illegally laundered as such.
Preemptive measures such as the BPA, South Korean Pelly certification, and appropriate action by CITES Parties will provide incalculable benefits to help stabilize all bear populations so they can survive for generations to come.
*Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), and sloth bear (Melursus ursinus).
AWI Quarterly Winter 1997, Volume 46 Number 1, p. 6-7.