China bear bile farmer eaten by own animals
`A Chinese man who raised bears to tap them for their bile, prized as a traditional medicine in Asia, has been killed and eaten by his animals, Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.
Six black bears attacked keeper Han Shigen as he was cleaning their pen in the northeastern province of Jilin on Monday, Xinhua said.
“The ill-fated man died on the spot and was eaten up by the ferocious bears,” it said, citing a report in the Beijing News.
In practices decried by animal rights groups, bile is extracted through surgically implanted catheters in the bear’s gall bladders, or by a “free-dripping” technique by which bile drips out through holes opened in the animals’ abdomens.’
