Vadim Ghirda / AP

A bear chews the bars of a cage at the estate of Ion Balint, known to Romanians as Nutzu the Pawnbroker, a notorious gangster, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Authorities along with specialists of the animal welfare charity Vier Pfoten removed four lions and two bears that were illegally kept on the estate of one of Romania’s most notorious underworld figures who reportedly used them to threaten his victims. Balint was arrested on Feb. 22, with dozens of others on charges of attempted murder, depriving people of their freedom, blackmail and illegally holding arms. Read the full story.

Vadim Ghirda / AP

A sedated lion is positioned in a transport cage, at the estate of Ion Balint.

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

Dan Bailey (#5) of the Dallas Cowboys misses a field goal late in the fourth quarter that was blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul (#90) of the New York Giants at Cowboys Stadium on Dec. 11in Arlington, Texas.

From AP:

"This is huge, another fourth-quarter comeback," Manning said. "Last week we had something similar (against Green Bay) and couldn't hold onto it. This week we held on it and got the win. ... Now we know we have a tough road ahead of us. It's going to come down to the final weeks to win games."

The Cowboys lost their second straight, both in dramatic, frustrating fashion that involved missed kicks by rookie Dan Bailey, who'd been so good for so long this season. The really bad news for Dallas was running back DeMarco Murray breaking his right ankle, ending his record-setting rookie season.

"We certainly know we've got our work cut out for us," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a brief statement.

Read more here.

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

Quarterback Tim Tebow (#15) of the Denver Broncos scrambles against the Chicago Bears at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Dec. 11, in Denver, Colo. The Broncos defeated the Bears 13-10 in overtime.

As for the Tim Tebow and crew, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher isn't overly impressed with the QB who is in only his second season according to PFT:

 Asked for his thoughts on Tebow after the game, Brian Urlacher was succinct.

“He’s a good running back, man. He runs the ball well,” Urlacher said.

The Bears mostly kept Tebow’s running in check; he had 49 rushing yards. It was Tebow’s 18 completions in the fourth quarter and overtime that really hurt Chicago.

Not bad for a running back.

Check out the rest of the story from PFT and read more about the game.

There's a market in Asia for the digestive fluids of bears for use in traditional medicine. To feed the demand, thousands of black bears in Vietnam and China are held in small cages and drained of their bile via catheter or a hole in the abdomen.  

Animals Asia via Reuters

Veterinarians conduct a health check on a moon bear at a bear bile farm before it was transported to a rescue center in Vietnam's southern Binh Duong province in this handout photo taken November 29 and released on Monday. According to Animals Asia, 14 bears had been rescued from the bear bile trade in a farm in southern Vietnam and transported to a bear rescue centre in Tam Dao, near Hanoi. The bears show significant health problems including missing and maimed limbs, indicating that they may have been captured with bear traps in the wild. One of the four owners, Mr Nguyen Ngoc Tien, decided to give up his share of the farm to Animals Asia. This is the first time in Vietnam that a bear farm has given up a significant number of bears without any demand for compensation. Across Asia, an estimated 14,000 moon bears are being held in captivity on farms and milked for their bile because it's believed to be effective in the practice of traditional Asian medicine despite the availability of inexpensive and effective herbal and synthetic alternatives.

AP reports: Nineteen bears were recently rescued from such an operation in Vietnam.

In the 1980s, China began promoting bear farms as a way to discourage poaching.

The bears were housed in small cages, and the green bitter fluid was sucked from their gall bladders using crude catheters, sometimes creating pus-filled abscesses or internal bile leakage. Many bears die slowly from infections or liver ailments, including cancer.

The idea caught on in Vietnam and elsewhere as demand grew alongside the region's increasing wealth. Bear bile products are also illegally smuggled into Chinatowns worldwide. An informal survey by the World Society for the Protection of Animals found 75 percent of stores visited in Japan selling bear bile products, followed by 42 percent in South Korea. In the U.S. and Canada, it was about 15 percent.

Animals Asia via Reuters

A moon bear is seen inside a cage at a bear bile farm before it was transported to a rescue center in Vietnam's southern Binh Duong province.

Animals Asia via Reuters

A moon bear is seen inside a cage at a bear bile farm before it was transported to a rescue center in Vietnam's southern Binh Duong province.

Last year, a farm in northern Vietnam was raided for selling bile to busloads of South Koreans, who watched it being extracted as part of their sightseeing tours. Some of the farms in Vietnam are owned by South Koreans and Taiwanese.

"They're more organized and bigger. They're run like a business now," said Bendixsen. "It's part of a package tour."

More information:

• Wikipedia article about the practice of harvesting bile from bears.
• Animals Asia, an organization that rescues bears.