Video: Cat vs. Bear

It's OK, the cat wins, I think.

Great bear sleeping bag

Designed by artist Eiko Ishizawa

I don't think it's for sale, you'll have to make your own.

(via Blame it on the voices)

Leave it to China - the ultimate in animal abuse

A recent report in The New York Times describes that a dozen Asiatic black bears, malnourished and diseased from years spent on abusive bile-harvesting farms in southwest China had been rescued.

Bile-harvesting, you ask. What is bile-harvesting?

State-approved farms in Sichuan province warehouse bears where holes are cut into their abdomens so that their bile could drip out to be harvested and used in Chinese traditional medicine to cure ailments ranging from headaches to hemorrhoids.

China started allowing bear bile farming in the 1980s, saying it would protect wild Asiatic black bears by satisfying the market for bile with farmed products.

The approved means of bile collection in China is through a permanent hole put in a bear's abdomen -- a process known as the ''free drip'' method. Animals Asia says this still causes pain and the slow death of bears. But more painful methods ranging from inserting metal catheters and rubber tubes into the bears' abdomens, which have been banned by the government, are still believed to be used in China.

An estimated 7,000 bears are kept in China's 247 bile-harvesting farms, according to government estimates, but Animals Asia believes the number could be as high as 10,000.

Ironically, wild bears are still poached because wild bile is believed to be better than farmed bile.

Read more about bear bile farming at Animals Asia.

Photo: BearDen.org

The original teddy bear

(via Old Pictures)

Joke: The Three Bears

It's a sunny morning in a big forest and the Bear family is just waking up. Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table. He looks into his small bowl. It is empty! "Who's been eating my porridge!" he squeaks.

Daddy Bear arrives at the table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl. It is also empty! "Who's been eating my porridge?" he roars.

Mommy Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and screams, "For gosh sakes, how many times do we have to go through this crap? I haven't made the porridge yet!"