IPO PULLED: Animal-rights activists in China are claiming a rare victory after a company that raises bears to extract bile from them withdrew its application for an initial public offering.

BACKLASH: The planned IPO of Fujian Guizhentang Pharmaceutical had caused outrage on social media and sparked online petitions from activists who say the practice is painful for the bears — bile is extracted from live, caged bears via catheters or holes in their bodies — and the tonics produced of debatable medicinal validity.