What do consumers of a wildlife product do when a market closes? We mostly have no clue. Today we had a paper published on the intentions of bear bile consumers to the closing of the market in Vietnam. We sampled at seven areas across the country of Vietnam (total respondents = 2,463). We found low use of farmed and wild bear bile. Despite widespread belief in farmed and wild bear bile’s efficacy, we found that individuals were apathetic about continuing to use bear bile. Coupled with a strong preference for using synthetic bear bile over wild and farmed bear bile found in the DCEs, we posit that bear bile consumers in Vietnam will be willing to use non animal-based products, including bear bile plant and Western medicine, to treat future ailments.
National Geographic covered this research, you can read the article here
