A restaurant in Albania is offering diners meat from illegally hunted bears part of an illicit trade in wildlife that is out of control in the country, investigators claim.
Researchers said it was the first time they had seen bear meat cooked in Europe, and experts warned that the crude butchering of animals may lead to outbreaks of zoonotic diseases such as coronavirus.
Bears, monkeys and birds of prey are among live animals being sold on popular Albanian online marketplaces, the investigation found, raising fears for the survival of some species in the country.
Download the new Independent Premium app
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
Download now
Animal-protection charity Four Paws discovered that two of Albanias leading online sites were carrying dozens of adverts selling brown bears and other species that are legally protected.
Many photographs of the animals along with foxes, barn owls and wolves showed them with their mouths taped up or their claws chained.
left
Created with Sketch.
right
Created with Sketch.
Shape
Created with Sketch.
Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale
1/10
Pangolins confiscated from smugglers are put inside a container during a press conference in Medan, North Sumatra
2/10
A puppy being sold for food at a market in Vietnam
3/10
A bear under anaesthetic is strapped to a metal fram and taken away to have have its bile drained to be used in medicine
4/10
Bears are caged before having their bile drained at a farm in China. Bear bile has been in use in Chinese traditional medicine for centuries. The active ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid, is often used to treat liver diseases. It is available across the world as a synthetic drug
5/10
Squirrels for sale at Chatuchak market in Thailand
6/10
A dog sits in a cage destined for the dinner table in Xin Yuan wild animal market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou
7/10
Pangolins are believed to be the worlds most trafficked animal. This pair were saved from local traffickers and kept at the Ugandan Wildlife Authority in Kampala
8/10
Factory farming of tens of millions of mink, fox racoon dogs, chinchillas and rabbits in other countries “presents an unnecessary and unacceptable risk for both human and animal health,’ Humane Society International says
9/10
Live birds for sale at Bird Alley in Taiwan
10/10
A customs officer gives water to seized pangolins before a news conference at the customs department in Bangkok
1/10
Pangolins confiscated from smugglers are put inside a container during a press conference in Medan, North Sumatra
2/10
A puppy being sold for food at a market in Vietnam
3/10
A bear under anaesthetic is strapped to a metal fram and taken away to have have its bile drained to be used in medicine
4/10
Bears are caged before having their bile drained at a farm in China. Bear bile has been in use in Chinese traditional medicine for centuries. The active ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid, is often used to treat liver diseases. It is available across the world as a synthetic drug
5/10
Squirrels for sale at Chatuchak market in Thailand
6/10
A dog sits in a cage destined for the dinner table in Xin Yuan wild animal market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou
7/10
Pangolins are believed to be the worlds most trafficked animal. This pair were saved from local traffickers and kept at the Ugandan Wildlife Authority in Kampala
8/10
Factory farming of tens of millions of mink, fox racoon dogs, chinchillas and rabbits in other countries “presents an unnecessary and unacceptable risk for both human and animal health,’ Humane Society International says
9/10
Live birds for sale at Bird Alley in Taiwan
10/10
A customs officer gives water to seized pangolins before a news conference at the customs department in Bangkok
Its a profitable business: a tiny capuchin monkey was offered for 750 (£675), and a barn owl, a bear cub and a wolf for 500 each.
The buyers are mostly restaurant and hotel owners who keep the animals to attract tourists, or individuals who want the animals as pets and status symbols, charity workers said.
Eagles, the national symbol of Albania, are especially popular with buyers and are often found stuffed as trophies in public places.
The menu featuring mish ariu bear meat (PPNEA)
But hunting protected species, keeping them captive and selling them is banned in Albania, following a huge decline of native wildlife in the country.
Offenders may be jailed under the law, which was tightened in October, but enforcement of it is lax.
Four Paws said that after its team reported some of the illegal adverts, they were deleted but new ones reappeared.
A large majority of the photographs displayed severe animal cruelty, such as foxes with sealed muzzles in plastic boxes, bear cubs in chains and birds with their feet tied, said Barbara van Genne, of the charity.
A tiny capuchin monkey on sale for 750 (Four Paws)
Monkeys and birds of prey are often kept in bars and restaurants in Albania as a tourist attraction, while foxes are sold for their fur, according to the investigators.
Wolves are bought to be cross-bred with dogs for the puppies to be sold as guard dogs, commonly used in the mountains against wolves. But other animals are killed, stuffed and put on display.
Animals mouths are often taped to prevent them biting and their feet chained to stop them running away.
A restaurant in the town of Drilon has also been found advertising bear meat on its menu on Facebook. The listing, for mish ariu Albanian for bear meat added ne sezone, meaning according to season.
A live fox with its mouth taped up advertised for sale (Four Paws)
An online restaurant portal, updated earlier this month, confirms the restaurant offering.
A spokesperson for Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) said: What is especially alarming about this is not only the fact that bear meat is being sold, it is also the addition in brackets of ne sezone, which gives the impression that theres a hunting season for bears.
In fact theres no hunting season for any wild animals in Albania, theres a hunting moratorium and hunting ban for years throughout the whole country passed in 2014 and extended in 2016 until March 2021.
The massive decline of wildlife in Albania triggered this.
Read more
Bear meat dishes have previously been seen in Asian countries. The meat can trigger disease caused by parasites, with symptoms including diarrhoea, cramps, fever and hallucinations.
Prof James Wood, head of department of veterinary medicine and an infection expert at the University of Cambridge, said Covid-19 and other zoonotic viruses can be carried by contaminated meat from any species.
However, the risks are far greater from butchering and hunting than they are from simple consumption, he said.
Bears are no more likely to act as a source of a zoonotic virus than any other species group. He added that cooking was a highly effective means of destroying the Covid-19 virus and other infections, but that eating bears is, of course, highly undesirable for many reasons, including conservation and animal welfare, if they have been kept in captivity before being killed.
A bear kept in a cage at a restaurant (Four Paws)
Ms van Genne said: Four Paws has been active in Albania since 2015 but we have never seen such atrocities before. Until now we have mainly focused on restaurants that keep bears in small cages for entertainment of guests.
This bizarre new discovery is a further indication that the commercial wildlife trade in Albania is out of control.
She warned that if the government did not intervene soon, the few native wild animals left will be history.
The platforms need to introduce preventive measures such as seller identification to stop these ads. However, the main problem for the illegal trade remains the lack of control and enforcement by the authorities, she claimed.
Watch more
In the 1990s, there were still about 200 pairs of eagles in Albania, but today the number has halved.
A wildlife sanctuary that can carry out criminal prosecutions, take in rescues and educate people in species protection was urgently needed in Albania, Ms van Genne said.
The Independent has asked the two online sales platforms to comment.
Home>>Finance>>Stop the Wildlife Trade exclusive: Bears, monkeys, wolves and birds of prey sold for hundreds of euros on popular Albanian websites, investigation finds
Finance