A Hong Kong-based animal charity will call on the central Government to make a policy statement against bear-bile farming as part of a proposal to speed the end of the practice.
Representatives from the Animals Asia Foundation were invited to submit a proposal during a meeting with the government-affiliated China Wildlife Conservation Association in Beijing.
The meeting followed a programme on China Central Television showing cruel conditions at bear-bile farms in Yunnan province.
The chief executive of the foundation, Jill Robinson, said it already had an agreement to work towards ending bear-bile farming with Sichuan Forestry Department and the conservation association.
'While our agreement has the approval of the central Government, there's no central policy on bear farming,' she said.
Together the groups had rescued more than 60 bears - surgically removing large metal catheters used to collect their bile - resulting in the closure of 30 farms, Ms Robinson said.
