Ban Trade of Black Bear Organs

Across North America, black bears have been found with gallbladders removed, paws chopped off, and bodies left to rot, all to satisfy the demand in the Asian communities' use of bear products in Traditional Chinese Medicine, both here and abroad.

To further complicate matters, hunters from the National Rifle Association and its associates have defiantly resisted any positive movement to protect American wildlife from poachers’ bullets. Regulatory inconsistency makes national bear protection extremely difficult.

Although thirty-four states prohibit trade in bear gallbladders and bile, five states allow it freely; and the others either have no regulations or restrictions that prohibit trade in bear parts from bears taken within the state but allow commercialization of bear parts if the bear is killed elsewhere.

We ask that you prohibit trade in bear organs in all states, as well as ban the export of black bear products and protect the American black bear.