People have smuggled hundreds of bear body parts — including polar bear parts — into Australia and New Zealand, a new study reveals. Enforcement agencies seized bear teeth, rugs, bile and embryos suspended in honey from passengers arriving in Australia and New Zealand from 2007 to 2018.Most of the bear parts and derivatives, such as gallbladder bile, were ingredients in traditional medicines. The goods were most often seized from people traveling into Australia and New Zealand from China, but they also came from other countries such as the U.S. and Canada.                                                           

Trade in wildlife threatens many species around the world. Bears are traded for their gallbladder bile, which is used in traditional Asian medicines, as well as their meat and body parts, such as those used as hunting trophies, according to the study. The research team found records of 781 seizures; 369 in Australia and 412 in New Zealand. They involved five of the eight bear species and all seizures were declared for "personal use." The items seized came from 33 countries spread around the world, with China being the reported origin of 37.7% of seizures in Australia and of 71.2% of seizures made in New Zealand, according to the study. The most common items seized were traditional medicines made out of bear bile.                                                                                                                                              

Humans obtain bear bile by killing bears or by keeping them alive in cages in bear farms, where handlers regularly extract the bile, such as through a catheter inserted in their gallbladder. Bear bile contains ursodeoxycholic acid, which can be used to reduce the absorption of cholesterol and dissolve gallbladder stones in people. However, herbal and synthetic alternatives exist with the same properties and bear bile is used to treat many conditions that it does not benefit, such as hangovers, according to Animals Asia.                                                                                                                                                  

Travelers had legally procured some of these seized items, which were returned to them. That was the case far more often for trophies than it was for medicines, teeth and claws, the majority of which were illegal. The study highlights the demand for bear parts and their derivatives in countries without wild bears.

Which bear body parts were not seized by Enforcement agencies?

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