New Nonprofit Organization to buy and sell bear gall bladders?

[npaden]

On my hunting trip on the Kaibab Plateau I had a LOT of time to sit and think about all kinds of things. Using a guide and hearing things like "that's a $X,XXX animal" had me thinking about the monetization of wildlife, auction tags going away in Arizona, raising money for wildlife and fun stuff like that.

One idea that popped up in my head was somehow creating a nonprofit conservation group that was funded by hunters willingly harvesting and sending the nonprofit organization the gall bladders out of their bears. I don't think anyone is using them or doing anything with them so they are just getting left with the guts.

I'm thinking something like they do with the caviar on the paddlefish along the Missouri.

Maybe have something where the people that send in the gall bladders get entered into some type of a drawing or something for their trouble. Come up with some prepaid postage containers to send out to people who have a tag and are willing to send them in.

I remember when the big gall bladder bear poaching ring got busted I think they were getting something like $500 for each gall bladder on the black market. If you were able to do something through normal channels I wonder if you could make as much for the nonprofit?

I'll gladly give my idea up to whoever wants to take this and run with it. LOL.

Curious what others think and if this has any chance of working.

 

[Ben Lamb]

No.

The bear bile industry is gross, wildly corrupt and anything that plays into it doesn't actually help farmed bears (kept alive, caged and the bile is extracted ) or the illegal harvest of bears worldwide.

I appreciate the creative thinking though. It's this specific instance where the desire to regulate a market isn't going to have the impact you'd hope.

 

[npaden]

Is there anything good that the gall bladders could be used for outside of the gross bear bile industry?

A quick google search says that synthetic alternatives work for most western medical type uses, and that the real thing is primarily used for TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

Sounds like I won't need to wonder about this idea anymore though. LOL.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Is there anything good that the gall bladders could be used for outside of the gross bear bile industry?

A quick google search says that synthetic alternatives work for most western medical type uses, and that the real thing is primarily used for TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

Sounds like I won't need to wonder about this idea anymore though. LOL.

Yes, the literally help keep bears alive, so I'm going with that.

 

[44hunter45]

I remember seeing a video of farmed elk having their velvet antlers cut off for "TCM". Many die from the stress of the procedure. Red waxy blood everywhere.
I'm not squeemy but it turned my stomach.

All those mistreated elk for the Asian version of Viagra. One strike against ungulate farming and one strike against Chinese Medicine for me.

 

[Treeshark]

The lengths some guys will go to for a bigger hammer…

 

[grizzly63]

Must not have heard about the salt trick?