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Lao Authorities Shut Down Bile Extraction Facility After Rescue of Three Bears

This Week

After years of advocacy and negotiation, a bear bile extraction facility in Laos has finally been shut down, marking a major win for wildlife conservation. The closure was the result of a long-standing collaboration between the Australian-based non-profit Free the Bears and the Lao government, aimed at ending the abuse of bears for traditional medicine.

On April 2, three Asiatic black bears—two males and one female—were rescued from a bile farm in Vientiane Capital. The operation was led by Lao authorities in partnership with Free the Bears, and the animals were safely relocated to a wildlife sanctuary in Luang Prabang Province.

Free the Bears, which has been working across Southeast Asia since 1995, has rescued over 1,000 bears, including 142 now cared for in Laos.

Bear bile farming involves the cruel practice of extracting bile from a bear’s gallbladder using syringes or catheters. This bile is used in some forms of traditional medicine, particularly in parts of Asia, where it is falsely believed to cure various ailments. The process often causes severe pain, long-term suffering, and life-threatening infections in the animals.

This practice remains widespread in countries like Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand, despite growing efforts to end it.

When the rescue team arrived, the bears were found in poor condition. The female, believed to be the oldest, was extremely malnourished but responded enthusiastically to food. The older male bear, while also starving, appeared calm and more comfortable around humans. The youngest bear was visibly smaller and seemed nervous.

To gain the bears’ trust and ensure a smooth transfer into transport crates, the team fed them honey and slowly encouraged them inside. Surprisingly, both the female and one male bear walked directly into the crates without resistance.

The authority were feeding the bear (Photo: Free the Bear)

Due to their weakened state, the bears were given food and water throughout the journey to prevent exhaustion and dehydration.

“The female looks like the oldest animal and has probably been there the longest. But she was very food-motivated, very hungry. So every piece of food that she was given, she was very excited by that,” said Matt Hunt, CEO of Free the Bears and currently based at the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary. 

The sanctuary, established in 2007, is dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and currently houses around 130 bears under expert care. Each rescued bear will now undergo rehabilitation in a quarantine area for a minimum of 30 days, where they will be monitored, receive a balanced diet, and be prepared for a full medical assessment.

According to Hunt, closing the farm had been a challenge because it predated these wildlife protection laws. Negotiations had been ongoing since 2007, involving close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Laos.

The bile farm had been operating since 2000—seven years before Laos passed its Wildlife and Aquatic Law of 2007, which made the capture, trade, or harm of protected species like the Asiatic black bear illegal. The species, also known as Moon bears (Ursus thibetanus), is classified as a Class I protected species and considered vulnerable due to poaching and habitat loss.

Despite the success of this rescue, conservation efforts still face significant obstacles. Rod Mabin, Communications Director at Free the Bears, emphasized that poverty and lack of legal awareness remain major barriers in rural areas.

“There’s a lot of people who don’t even know that it’s illegal to hunt and to poach. So there needs to be greater awareness of the fact that it’s illegal and the fact that we need to keep the forest intact.” Mabin said. 

Once they reach the sanctuary, they have to go into a quarantine area where they have to do a minimum of 30 days, often more like two months, which allows them a little bit of time to settle, build up their strength, and get onto a healthy diet, before scheduling them to do a full health check in the next coming week. 

The bear were arrived in sanctuary in Luang Prabang. (Photo: Free the Bear)

There are currently 130 bears under care, and every new bear that arrives must undergo a health check to ensure they are clean and healthy to prevent the spread of disease to others.

Every bear will have its own keeper who is assigned to take care of each based on their age, weight, personality, and sex.

The Challenges

Despite the organization’s efforts to protect wildlife and its success in rescuing many animals over the past several years, several factors continue to hinder further progress in wildlife conservation.

Rod Mabin, Communications Director of Free the Bears, said that one of the main challenges in stopping people from hunting or engaging in harmful activities toward wildlife is the lack of awareness and enforcement of laws, especially in rural areas. Another key factor, he noted, is that some people engage in these activities out of necessity for survival.

“There’s all sorts of problems in terms of poverty and people hunting because they have no choice. They just try to feed their family,” Mabin said. 

Moreover, in the name of development, many roads have been constructed, often leading to forest and habitat destruction to implement infrastructure plans.

The most important is to raise awareness to residents about the dangers of consuming wildlife either as food or produce as a local medicine that is believed to be able in curing diseases, according to Mabin.

The critical role wildlife plays in maintaining forest ecosystems. 

“Protecting bears and other animals is essential,” Hunt said, explaining that forests cannot function properly without wildlife.

These animals perform key ecological roles that help sustain healthy forests—vital for a stable environment. “Humans simply can’t exist without a healthy environment,” he added, underlining the connection between wildlife conservation and human survival.

“Without healthy forests, bringing that wildlife into the community can have some pretty severe impacts for us in our future,” Mabin noted.

A similar rescue happened in Bolikhamxay Province, two bears were handed over to the same place in LPB by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry after rescuing them from a farm in Bolikhamxay. 

On 17 March, Vientiane Capital’s public security rescued 16 black bear cubs from the Far Thai Microfinance Institution in Sikhottabong district and transferred them to Free the Bear, a wildlife conservation organization based in Luang Prabang. The cubs were found in the care of four individuals, although the origin of the animals remains unknown.

These events marked another successful step by the Lao government in preventing illegal wildlife trade through efforts in partnership with international organizations.

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