hayop ka din

i was watching born to be wild and doc recio is featuring the lives of bears in vietnam. ang hirap maging hayop.

there's this bear farm in vietnam wherein they extract bear biles. hearing their groan from the pain of the process is heartwrenching. after the process, naghihingalo na sila sa hirap. putik, ano bang ginagawa ng mga tao sa hayop. kung sila kaya ganunin.

according to wikipedia "Bile acts to some extent as a detergent, helping to emulsify fats (increasing surface area to help enzyme action), and thus aids in their absorption in the small intestine...Besides its digestive function, bile serves as the route of excretion for the hemoglobin breakdown product (bilirubin) created by breakdown of erythrocytes, which are conjugated by glucuronidation in the liver; it also neutralises any excess stomach acid before it enters the ileum, the final section of the small intestine."

bears in the wild normally live for 30 years. bears in bear farms are lucky if they get to live for 5 years. these bears are found in cages so small that they can neither stand nor stetch kasi mauuntog sila. but their survival instincts work that they bite the bars of their cages kaya lang minsan, they tend to bite even their own shoulders. kakaawa. wala din naman silang magawa.

recently, the vietnamese government imposed a ban on these practices. kaya ayun si doc recio, sumubaybay sa mga rescue operations na ginagawa ng mga alagad ng batas.

rescued bears grow so fat. they become obese. may mga galos at sugat. mabagal kumilos. all are result of bile extraction.

sa vietnam, ginagawang alaga sa bahay ang mga oso pero syempre nasa hawla. there's this bear which the owner turned over to the government because its obese. for easier transport and also for the safety of both transporters and the bear itself, they injected pampatulog on it. it took 10 people to carry the bear.

bear biles are exported to countries also in asia such as korea, japan, china and even the philippines. but such exportation is illegal.

the feature ended with a note that stopping this cruel act is still a long shot. well, efforts aimed at stopping cruelty in general is always seen as a long shot but hey, lahat ng nilalang na may buhay ay binigyan ng karapatang mabuhay kaya wala ni isa man sa atin ang may karapatang kitilin ang buhay ng kahit na sino o kahit ano sa pamamagitan ng pagpapahirap sa mga ito.