full story: http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Teary-Mother-Bear-Killed-Her-Baby-and-Committed-Suicide-A-Heart-Breaking-True-Story

Traps were laid in the wild illegally. When the bear was trapped, she lost not only her paws and four limbs for a good fortune of money, but she was locked up in the cage and had to endure daily torture of bile collection up to 25 or 30 years. This bile collection process requires a hole to be cut in the bear stomach and an iron pipe inserted into the bear gall bladder. Bile was then taken several times a day. The entire procedure was done without anaesthetic in order to save cost. The pain was excruciating. The bear could not bear it and attempted to kill herself by punching her stomach. However, human prevented this suicide act by forcing the bear to wear an iron vest. With this iron vest, her movement was restricted; committing suicide was an impossible task. A mother bear knew it too well. When the bear worker wanted to open up her cub's stomach, the mother bear broke open the cage and went after the cub. After failing to release the chained cub, she hugged the cub. The mother bear then killed the cub to save it from a life of hell. Here is the story from Chinese news.

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110805-292947.html

Mother bear kills cub and then itself

Friday, Aug 05, 2011

The Chinese media has reported on an extraordinary account of a mother bear
saving her cub from a life of torture by strangling it and then killing
itself.

The bears were kept in a farm located in a remote area in the North-West of
China. The bears on the farm had their gall bladders milked daily for 'bear
bile,' which is used as a remedy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

It was reported that the bears are kept in tiny cages known as 'crush
cages', as the bears have no room to manoeuvre and are literally crushed.

The bile is harvested by making a permanent hole or fistula in the bears'
abdomen and gall bladder.

As the hole is never closed, the animals are suspect to various infections
and diseases including tumours, cancers and death from peritonitis.

The bears are fitted with an iron vest, as they often try to kill themselves
by hitting their stomach as they are unable to bear the pain.

A person who was on the farm in place of a friend witnessed the procedures
and told Reminbao.com that they were inhumane.

The witness also claimed that a mother bear broke out its cage when it heard
its cub howl in fear before a worker punctured its stomach to milk the bile.

The workers ran away in fear when they saw the mother bear rushing to its
cub's side.

Unable to free the cub from its restraints, the mother hugged the cub and
eventually strangled it.

It then dropped the cub and ran head-first into a wall, killing itself.

Many TCM practitioners have denounced the use of bear bile in their
treatment as there are cheaper herbs and synthetics that can be used in its
place.

Bear bile is traditionally used to remove 'heat' from the body as well as
treat high fever, liver ailments and sore eyes.