The Vietnamese Government committed to closing all bear farms in the country by 2022. Some researchers have expressed concerns that ending the commercial farming of bears, while demand for bear bile persists, could lead to increased hunting pressure on wild bear populations. In this article, we used mixed methods of questionnaires, Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs), and interviews to investigate current consumer demand for bear bile in Vietnam, with a specific aim of understanding the potential for consumers to seek out wild bear bile. We sampled at seven areas across the country of Vietnam (total respondents = 2,463). We found low use of farmed and wild bear bile. Despite widespread belief in farmed and wild bear bile's efficacy, we found that individuals were apathetic about continuing to use bear bile. Coupled with a strong preference for using synthetic bear bile over wild and farmed bear bile found in the DCEs, we posit that bear bile consumers in Vietnam will be willing to use non animal-based products, including bear bile plant and Western medicine, to treat future ailments.

中文翻译：

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越南熊胆养殖的终结将如何影响消费者的选择？

越南政府承诺到 2022 年关闭该国所有的熊场。一些研究人员表示担心，在熊胆需求持续存在的情况下，结束熊的商业化养殖可能会导致野生熊种群的狩猎压力增加。在本文中，我们使用问卷调查、离散选择实验 (DCE) 和访谈的混合方法来调查越南当前消费者对熊胆的需求，具体目的是了解消费者寻找野生熊胆的潜力。我们在越南全国的七个地区进行了抽样调查（总受访者 = 2,463）。我们发现养殖和野生熊胆汁的使用率很低。尽管人们普遍相信养殖和野生熊胆的功效，但我们发现人们对继续使用熊胆无动于衷。