The eight species of bear live in more than 65 countries or autonomous regions in four continents, in a variety of habitats from tropical rainforests to arctic ice. Numerous human cultures around the world symbolically or physically try to incorporate the power of bears into their people.
Discussions in this report address bear farming in China, Hong Kong's gall bladder registration scheme, biological implications of the legal trade in bear gall bladder in Japan and Taiwan's efforts to monitor its domestic market for bear gall bladder. Recommendations are given to better understand, monitor and control the trade.
