VET OPERATES ON A SEDATED ASIATIC BLACK BEAR IN CHENGDU, 2002-12-16 (photo)

Veterinary surgeons remove the gall bladder of an Asiatic black bear at the "Moon Bear Rescue Centre" in Chengdu in western China's Sichuan province December 16, 2002. The gall bladder is remove to avoid infection and save the bear. Though it is illegal to hunt Asiatic Black Bears or Moon Bears in the wild in China, the animals are still trapped or killed for their gall bladders and other body parts by poachers. Twenty of 84 bears at the centre were freed into a bamboo forest sanctuary for the first time on December 16 after they were rescued from bear farms in Sichuan. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV REUTERS CC