Bear farming hasn't slowed the Asiatic black bear's decline. Poaching continues in China and elsewhere. Some people pay the lower price for farmed bile, while richer consumers still insist on acquiring the whole gall bladder. So wild bears are still being shot. Bear farming can be very profitable.
Bears produce about two kilos of bile a year.
The animals can be milked for up to 13 years. China harvests 7,000 kilos of bile annually, but consumes only 4,000 kilos. The remainder is sold to Japanese and Korean tour groups or becomes an exotic, but useless, addition to products such as shampoo, hemorrhoid cream, cough syrup and tea. Some is illegally smuggled to Hong Kong's medicine shops. People believe because it's farmed, it's okay.