FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2001

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Wayne Pacelle: (202) 778-6112 Rachel Querry: (301) 258-8255

WASHINGTON – The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation’s largest animal protection organization, is urging the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill to protect bears from a growing trade in their parts. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) introduced the bill – H.R. 397 – also known as The Bear Protection Act, late yesterday. The bill has 77 original co-sponsors.

The Bear Protection Act would ban the import, export and interstate commerce of bear gall bladders, bile and other viscera, which are used in traditional Asian medicine. The U.S. Senate passed an identical bill last October, but the Congress adjourned before the House acted on the bill. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a longtime champion of bears and the Bear Protection Act, is expected to soon introduce a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

"The Humane Society of the United States commends Representative Gallegly for taking up the fight to protect bears from commercial killing for their parts," said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS senior vice president. "Given that 18 states have no laws to combat this cruel trade, the only way to halt the slaughter of bears for their parts is to enact the Bear Protection Act."

Pacelle says the Bear Protection Act is urgently needed to protect bears from poachers who are increasingly turning to the world’s largest remaining bear population – that of the American black bear found in mountainous regions of the U.S. and Canada – to feed the enormous appetite for bear parts among some members of increasingly affluent Asian populations around the world.

The HSUS began investigating the bear parts trade in the 1990s. A series of reports by The HSUS and others documented the increasing pressure on the American black bear as populations of Asian bears were virtually wiped out through a lethal combination of habitat destruction and the bear parts trade. Asian bear species are all now listed as endangered and international trade in their parts banned. At the same time, game wardens in the U.S. and Canada began finding dead bears with only certain parts removed.

"Consuming bear parts is thought to improve health and vitality," explains Pacelle. "Compared to other contraband, bear gall bladders are relatively easy to conceal and fetch a high price, so the incentive to trade in them is enormous."

A patchwork of state and federal laws makes the bear parts trade difficult to stop and makes investing resources in undercover operations to halt trade difficult for state and federal law enforcement agencies. Combined with the small size of a bear gall bladder and the difficulty in differentiating between gall bladders of various species, enforcement of the current laws protecting American species of bears is impossible without a nationwide ban on the trade in all bear parts, says Pacelle.

The HSUS is working closely with the Society for Animal Protective Legislation and other groups to push for passage of this important bill.