CASE STUDY 1: DISENTANGLING THE INTERCONNECTED

LEGAL AND ILLEGAL MARKET FOR BEAR BILE PRODUCTS IN

CHINA
Oxford Researcher: Dr Amy Hinsley

There is extensive debate over the use of legal, farmed wildlife products to reduce demand for
wild products, and the case of bear bile farming in China has been particularly controversial.
This case-study sought to better understand the current market for farmed and wild bear bile by
carrying out in-depth research into the behaviour and motivations of the people who consume,
sell, and prescribe bear bile in China. From 2018-2020, we used large-scale surveys with
members of the public, interviews with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctors and
pharmacy workers, and in-depth surveys with bear bile consumers to investigate their
preferences for different products.

Specific project objectives included:

 Finding out how many people use bear bile and why they use it, using information
form consumers, doctors and vendors of bile in the main cities of four Chinese
provinces. More information available soon (Open Access):
 Hinsley, A., Hu, S., Chen, H., Garshelis, D. , Hoffmann, M., Lee, T.M.,
Moyle, B. , Qiu, Y., Ruan, X. Wan, A.K.Y., Zhou, J. , and Milner-Gulland,
E.J. Combining data from consumers and traditional medicine practitioners
to provide a more complete picture of Chinese bear bile markets. People
and Nature (in press).

 Understanding how and why people make the decision to ‘switch’ between wild,
farmed and synthetic bear bile.
 The main output will be an open access paper looking at consumer
preferences for different bear bile products amongst real bear bile
consumers (currently submitted and in review).

 Producing recommendations based on our findings to inform policy related to

bear bile farming in China.
  Our main output will be a report, responding to an IUCN World
Conservation Congress Recommendation, that called for more evidence on
the consumption and trade of bear bile in China (currently in prep).


2021 Public survey team

An additional objective was added in early 2021, when we ran a follow-up project
(funded by a DEFRA IWT Challenge Fund Rapid Response COVID-19 grant) to
determine the best strategies for reducing illegal wildlife use in TCM post-COVID-
19. Using our original study as a baseline, we looked at whether bear bile and other
animal-based medicine consumption had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic
in China, and held co-design workshops with consumers, TCM doctors and
pharmacy workers to design evidence-based strategies to reduce demand for wild
bear bile and other illegal wildlife-based medicines.

The main outputs will be open access scientific papers and a policy brief in Chinese, that has
been shared and discussed with policymakers in Chin