Another horrendous and almost incomprehensible practice of Chinese "folk medicine" is the extraction of bile from bears for human medicinal use. It is believed that over 10,000 bears imprisoned in tiny cages are tortured daily for the extremely painful extraction of bile juices. Now an activist organization, Animals Asia, is rescuing 130 bears from a bile factory after the manager of "Flower World", a state owned business, appealed for help. The sickest bears will be convoyed beginning May 5th to an existing sanctuary in Chengdu for urgent veterinary care. After that Animals Asia will begin the two year process of converting the Nanning bear farm into a sanctuary.The industry exists because it is profitable despite a strong majority of Chinese against it. Official corruption also plays a role in the continued existence of a morally corrupt enterprise. The Nanning manager said discussions took two years among Flower World's management team before it was decided to approach their state overseers with the idea of converting the farm into a sanctuary for bears rather than selling them off to other farms. Thankfully, the state approved. The Nanning bears have not had their bile extracted during those two years of procrastination, but many suffer health problems from earlier procedures, continuous cramped confinement, poor diets, and lack of veterinarian care. Perhaps this rescue will be the beginning of hope for so many bears who live in abject misery because of man's ignorance and greed. WARNING: This video from Animals Asia is disturbing, but it documents the conditions which these bears endure: