October 11, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens arrested four suspects in Chinatown Wednesday when the suspects sold vials of bear bile to undercover officers. The individual vials were sold to officers for upwards of $30 each and the sales occurred in three different businesses throughout the district.

It is a felony to sell any part of any bear in California. DFG officials believe the bear bile, which is often used for medicinal purposes in certain cultures, may have been imported from China.

The arrests came from information developed by DFG last week. Those arrested on felony charges of illegally selling bear parts were: May, 64, and Tit Tham, 69, of the Tung Shing Trading Co. on Jackson Street; Thomas Tsz Wun Chan, 59, of Wing Hop Company Inc. on Clay Street; and Wei Hao Zeng, 40, of Tung Fong Trading Company on Waverly Place.