Bear poaching is usually motivated by the high sale price of bear parts such as gallbladders and bear paws. Indeed, bear paws are priced as a delicacy by some cultures, believed to have life enhancing properties. Poachers are also on occasion after live cubs to supply captive bears as pets and for entertainment purposes. The cubs are taken from their mother, who is inevitably killed, and sold on the black market. They often die from shock and malnutrition before they even get there, making the conservation price of just one cub particularly high.
Bear meat is considered a delicacy as well as believed to have life-enhancing and aphrodisiac properties in some parts of the world. The most priced parts of the bear are its front paws and back feet. There are preferences towards the back feet as these are the ones that the animal stands on the most and are thus believed to have better life enhancing properties. Together with gall bladders, paws are usually found in anti-poaching raids worldwide. There have also been reported cases of 'illegal meat tourism', with restaurants catering towards highly specialized tourists, advertising bears as well as other endangered species on their menus through travel agencies. There is a belief in certain parts of Asia that meat tastes better if there has been a flow of adrenalin in the animal during the kill. This can result in the very slow and painful slaughter of the animal. Stories of long beatings and bears being boiled alive have circulated among conservationist circles.
Bears are kept captives by some private owners. The exotic pet market has been particularly fond of Sun bears in the past as this bear is relatively small. In order to provide for the demand, cubs are poached from the wild after their mother has been killed. If they survive this trauma, they are sold in underground markets to the highest bidder. The bear owners often have poor knowledge of the species and they are fed a poor or inappropriate diet that leaves them malnourished, not to mention the bare living environments in which they end up. The true cost of the pet trade, as with all bear trade that involves living animals is much higher than just one bear, as they often die before reaching the market, not to mention the inevitable loss of a breeding female for every poached cub.
Contact local wildlife enforcement agencies if you see cubs for sale in markets.