A rubber pipe is surgically connected to the bear’s gall bladder and attached to a fluid bag inside a metal box. To hold the box in place against the bear’s abdomen, the bear is fitted with a metal jacket weighing more than 10kg.

Bile is emptied from the bag about every two weeks.

To drain the bile bag, the farmer must crawl under the bear’s cage to unlock the metal box. Bears wearing metal jackets often suffer from infection, hair loss and skin irritations. Oliver (pictured above), who had possibly worn a metal jacket for 30 years, was in such a poor condition when rescued in April 2010 that emergency surgery had to be performed on him during the journey to our sanctuary.

Although against regulations in China, evidence of this method is seen in bears at our Chengdu sanctuary.

“Brown bear Oliver had been fitted with a metal jacket that was removed shortly before our arrival – a metal wire remained protruding from his abdomen."