Bear Bile Banned: South Korea the Latest to Prohibit Abusive Bear Farming Practices

The practice of bear bile farming may have its days numbered as countries like South Korea pass new laws prohibiting the practice. These laws largely stem from increased public awareness around the abuses endured by bears and the fact that the bile’s medicinal qualities can now be easily and cheaply produced in a lab.

Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus), also known as “moon bears” are the most common bile farming victims, though other Asian bear species, like brown bears (Ursus arctos) and sun bears (Helarctos malayansus), are sometimes also targets for the practice.

Bear bile farms house the animals in cages scarcely large enough to allow movement and often too small to stand or turn, aptly called “crush cages.” Farmers often keep the bears perpetually hungry to stimulate bile production and subject them to repeated bile extraction via painful methods that frequently result in infections. These conditions take both a physical and psychological toll on the bears, who often chew at their cages’ metal bars, causing tooth damage and loss, and rub their heads into the sides of the cages resulting in eye and ear injuries. It is not uncommon for such bears to lose appendages. Many bears have never seen natural daylight. In short, life is horrific for these bears, many of whom suffer for decades.

Thankfully, as global condemnation and public awareness have grown, demand for bear-derived products has dropped and legal prohibitions have emerged. In 2026, South Korea adopted a strict, new law that completely prohibits the ownership, breeding, and trade of bears and their parts—including bile. The prohibition is included in amendments to South Korea’s animal protection laws; it represents an innovative agreement between the government and animal protection organizations. Under the law, animal protection organizations facilitate the purchase and removal of bears from farms and transfer them to sanctuaries established by the government.

Despite the law’s good intentions, implementation is slow, and, for many bears, the new law has resulted in little immediate change in circumstances. Some bears have been removed from farms to South Korea’s only existing government-run sanctuary, but the facility has limited space and the opening of a second location has been delayed until 2027. To address delays, a sanctuary in the UK has raised money to take in several of the bears. However, as many as 199 bears remain confined on farms with an uncertain future. During this time bile extraction remains prohibited.

Outside of South Korea—Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and China have also been home to bear bile farms. In Myanmar and Laos, evidence of removing bears from the wild to support the bile industry exists. In fact, evidence suggests that all bears on Laotian farms were wild-sourced. Illegal trafficking also remains a challenge. In the United States, bile traders have targeted the American black bear, even though interstate sale is largely illegal under a combination of the Lacey Act and state laws. However, loopholes exist in states that have not outlawed the intrastate buying and selling of bear parts.

Vietnam and Laos both banned domestic bear acquisition and the extraction and sale of bile approximately 20 years ago. However, both countries allowed existing farms to retain possession of their bears, meaning that freedom for existing farmed bears has been slow in these countries as well. China, however, remains the primary obstacle to truly ending the practice, where an estimated more than 20,000 bears languish in its legal bear farming industry.

The Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment (GLA) works with partner organizations to protect wild animals and their habitats by addressing the key drivers of biodiversity loss, including human exploitation. Launched in the fall of 2020, GLA is an innovative collaboration of the Center for Animal Law Studies and the top-ranked Environmental Law Program at Lewis & Clark Law School. GLA champions wild animals and wild spaces around the world. Law students (JD and LLM) actively participate in GLA’s work for academic credit.

About the Author: Courtney McCoy (JD, ’25) is the 2025-2026 Diehl Fellow for the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment (GLA). She comes to GLA most excited about working on wildlife protection and looks forward to engaging with the international legal community to help stymie the current biodiversity crisis. She understands that issues affecting the environment and wildlife span the globe and that some of the most impactful solutions are those that engage cross-boundary stakeholders.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law advocates and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter. CALS’ Alumni-in-Action from over 30 countries are making a difference for animals around the world. CALS is a nonprofit organization funded through donations and grants.