By Janet Raloff
As a consultant to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Jill Robinson walked onto her first bear farm 12 years ago. At this facility in southern China, she found each bear standing not on a solid floor but on bars in a cage too small for the animal to take even one step. Although the Asiatic black bear is normally a solitary and clean animal, these cages were crowded together in buildings that could only be described as “filthy,” Robinson reports.
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Worst of all, she says, was the bears’ evident suffering. Many had gnawed at the bars of the cages until their teeth cracked. Some repeatedly banged their heads against the bars, and most had open wounds.