Bear Detection Kits Seen as Having Potential To Curb Illegal Trade

"Bear detection kits" may help crack down on an illegal trade in bear products supplied by Asian farms where animals are locked in cramped cages, a conservation group said on Tuesday.

The portable kits, which use technology similar to that in a home pregnancy test, can isolate bear proteins in traditional Asian medicines in five minutes, according to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

The bear detection kits, developed with a forensic group called Wildlife DNA Services, are far simpler and quicker than existing procedures that require laboratory equipment, it said.



"The activity that takes place in bear farms is inherently cruel and unnecessary," WSPA head Peter Davies said in a statement released on the sidelines of a June 3-15 U.N. conference on wildlife trade in The Hague.

Read full story