Assisi is the second-to-last bear of our 10 survivors from the bear farm in February to have his cholecystectomy (removal of damaged gall bladder), and is also undergoing castration and removal of three badly broken canines (resulting from frustrated bar-biting on the farm).
In truth, we've been worried sick about this beautiful bear. Just a couple of weeks ago, he had a scan after vet Heather and team picked up a mass in his chest on the X-ray.
UK radiologists interpreted the scan, confirming the mass in his chest, and explaining that it could be one of two things: dilation of his aorta (large vessel leaving the heart), or a tumour inside the walls of the aorta.
As Heather summarised, either of these conditions is essentially untreatable, has a poor long-term prognosis in other species and would generally be a case for euthanasia. However, during our years of working with these rather incredible bears, we've learned that they are remarkably resilient and can often tolerate conditions that would prove fatal for other animals.
Indeed, one of our biggest frustrations is when one of our rescued bears doesn’t get to walk on grass – when we lose him or her to diseases such as liver cancer before they’ve had their day in the sun. So for every bear with a "chance", we carefully consider the options from both medical and welfare perspectives and make the best decisions we can.
Consequently, bears with various conditions whose pain we can “manage” and minimise, are given their chance and carefully observed while living in their grassy enclosures, enjoying happy days out with their friends.
And Assisi deserves his chance. We've all agreed that as he is showing minimal clinical signs, and has already survived a fistula surgery (or butchery) on the farm and a health-check with us, the surgery to remove his gall bladder and ongoing rehabilitation is well worth a shot. We will hold on to our dream of seeing him play on grass until the day we all sadly acknowledge that his borrowed time has run out.
This decision was also well-received and agreed on by his generous sponsors, Bob Kerridge and his team at the New Zealand SPCA, who also have been praying for this bear since he first arrived. Bob and staff have been nothing short of wonderful to our bears over the years, spreading the message of their plight on the farms and raising funds that help in the ongoing course of our work.
Choosing from our last arrivals in February of this year, a bear we nicknamed “Hamster”, seemed to be just right for “their” bear. He was so called because after arriving from the farm, he carefully pulled down the straw we placed on top of his barbaric cage, piece by laborious piece, until he’d crafted what was obviously the perfect bed – and curled up comfortably to sleep.
Even standing up in those early days after arrival must have been torture for this bear, as two of his claws had grown around into a circle, painfully puncturing his pads. The stench from this injured rotting flesh was nauseating, and the years of incessant, throbbing pain must have been hard for him to endure. Here he is on arrival, his neglected claws clearly visible:
ArrivalFeb2009.jpg)
Today, the SPCA’s chosen name, “Assisi” – after Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals – seems just perfect for this brave and gentle bear.
10.10am: Looking at Assisi now on the table, breathing well and stable under anaesthetic, we’re all holding our breath in hope. The various procedures are being performed simultaneously to minimise the length of time he has to spend on the table and on the gas.
Our fabulous nurses, Caz and Wendy, and volunteer Kelly are busily monitoring the anaesthetic, spinning the bloods, taking samples of the gall bladder for the Chinese pathologist who is working with us to analyse, giving drugs, replacing drips, and keeping Heather, Jen and John supplied with sterile instruments, blades and suture materials, as Assisi sleeps on.
11.02am: The gall bladder is out and, surprisingly doesn't look too bad, although Heather has found some scarring on his liver which originated from the surgery on the farm. Still, as she says, the liver can rejuvenate itself well and she doesn't expect any long-term problems there.
Jen has already removed two of his broken teeth, and is working on the third – and Assisi is now also missing two little organs at the other end of his body, now that his castration is also complete. Somehow it seems safe at last to breathe.
Last week I spent some time with this long and lovely bear, enjoying how bright and curious he was, as he greedily bolted down a selection of fruit with all the enthusiasm of a fully fit bear.
His lemony moon-shaped crescent is glorious and runs into a shawl on his shoulders, and he would also have beautiful "Mickey Mouse" ears if they weren’t cut off at the ends (perhaps bitten by another bear on the farm when their cages were placed too tightly together).
And throughout this adoration, Assisi played the ravenous bear-card to perfection, scrounging extra fruit just by looking in our direction with those soulful, melting, brown eyes.
12.30: Assisi is off the gas and now being wheeled into the recovery room where lovely volunteer Lucy will sit with him until he is awake and standing on all fours. Within a couple of days, fingers crossed, he'll be feeling much better, and his surgery scars will be well on their way to healing.
Until then, tender, loving care – and heaps of it – is the order of the day, as together we all pray for this saint of a bear to be well.
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In something almost impossible to describe, all of us at the Chengdu bear sanctuary have just been witness to an incredible art form dating back 3,000 years.
Guo Yue Ming is one of China's renowned hair engravers - and last week he used a hair from Dick - one of our new bears undergoing removal of his damaged gall bladder - who wouldn't miss one of his hairs loving plucked by our vet nurses in the course of preparing him for surgery.
Using a microscope and the finest of tools, Mr Guo not only carved the characters for “Rescue black bears - Give up using bear bile", but this talented artist also carved JASPER!
I think we all had low expectations at first - acknowledging that this would be an almost impossible feat - but there in front of our eyes, the computer screen flashed up Jasper’s image, with his unmistakable yellow crescent, and our jaws dropped to the floor.
A toothpick lying beside the hair shows just how tiny Mr Guo's "canvas" was:
Kindly giving us the finished result, Mr Guo has allowed us to use this piece of art as a fundraiser to help the bears. And so, with pictures of him and the hair of Jasper, we’ll be thinking of the best way of raising funds for a project so close to the heart of talented and generous people here in China.
We couldn't resist getting a photo of Mr Guo (and our PR manger Rainbow) proudly displaying our tiniest piece of bear art in front of our biggest bear artwork - the statue of Andrew that now greets visitors to our Moon Bear Rescue Centre.
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It was hard not to cry meeting Deng Yu Rui for the first time. His father had died in the earthquake last May, and his mother had tragically lost three of her limbs, but Deng's face beamed as he met his new four-legged best friends.
It seems that little Deng has inherited his bravery from his mother, who now runs a blog helping other earthquake victims heal from their trauma.
His school in Dujianyan was destroyed a year ago on 12 May 2008 and as we walked into the prefabricated buildings that replaced it, I was touched by the welcome we received.
A banner hung proudly in front of the school announcing " Feel the love, pass around the love, hand in hand with Animals Asia's Professor Paws". This, and the visit itself, had been arranged by one of the teachers of the school, Mr Zhang, who has been spreading the word in his school about our bear campaign since 2004.
Rainbow, Suki, Sailing and Cherry had organised the day in remembrance of the earthquake and to make the children feel special during a time when they were bound to be sad. Kind volunteers had brought their dogs - a pug, Professor Xiao Xuan, an Afghan, Professor Da Er, a cross black labrador, Professor Da Hei, and a poodle, Professor Bi Bi - and we were ready to begin the event.
I think about 4 million kids must have bust out of their classrooms when they saw us arrive. Yelling a quick hello in English, they practically mowed me down in their excitement of meeting their professors for the afternoon.
These four fabulous dog ambassadors rose to the occasion with calmness and wagging tails in amongst a sea of youngsters shouting "Wo Ai Go Go" (we love dogs).
A year ago, many of these poor kids would have been grief stricken, after losing parents, family members and friends, but today the dogs were touching their hearts and I felt so proud of how capably they were helping these children to put their sadness behind them.
Suki did a brilliant presentation to about 70 kids and had them shouting back responses about how dogs help so many people in communities throughout China and across the world. Pictures of guide dogs for the blind, and sniffer dogs flashed up on to the screen as the children had to guess exactly how the dogs assisted in their various roles.
At one point a picture showed dogs searching for survivors in the rubble of Sichuan, and the atmosphere became serious for a few seconds with every pair of eyes fixed onto the screen, understanding that lives had been saved because of dogs like these.
The next slide too saw sad faces as Suki showed ex-market dog Eddie, caged and afraid, with more images of dogs caught up in the truly horrible dog and cat food industry.
The kids knew exactly what to say - and were furious with this truly awful treatment of dogs in their country. This was also particularly poignant for Da Hei’s owner, who had rescued his beloved dog from a truck carrying dozens of victims on their way to the live-animal markets of Guangzhou. He couldn’t afford them all, but paid the driver for Da Hei, who was then loaded off the truck before it continued on its way to market.
Then Suki bounced on to the next slides and the children clapped and smiled when they saw Eddie in his new Dr Dog role - kissing children and the elderly in hospitals and homes of Hong Kong.
More slides followed sending lessons on how to treat dogs, and how they treat us if cared for well.
Suki asked the children to think about the reasons why we sometimes shouldn't disturb dogs, and their answers came thick and fast, correctly guessing when eating, sleeping, sad, and leashed - and more besides.
Then she asked how we can make them happy, and again they shouted the responses ranging from walking them, feeding them, always giving water, playing with them, brushing them - and "putting them in a cage when they sleep". Of course Suki was ready with a response for the last statement - and asked them to think if they would be happy "sleeping in a cage for a bed?". The resounding "no" showed they had indeed got the message.
Finally Suki taught the kids how to approach dogs properly - to ask the owners if they could stroke them and to offer the backs of their hands for the dogs to sniff at first.
And finally the moment the kids had all been waiting for - when the dogs were brought into the classroom so that everyone could "practice" the lessons they'd learned. Here's gentle Da Hei, helping a little girl's heart to heal.
They could hardly contain themselves, bursting with excitement, but shyly asking the volunteers for permission to say hello, before stroking the dogs' heads and getting to know their new friends. With previous fears now gone, the kids got down to the serious work of brushing, patting, feeding, and generally exhausting themselves, enjoying this perfect form of animal therapy.
Naturally, all of the kids passed their "test" with flying colours, and earned themselves certificates of graduation before swearing an oath to love and protect dogs - and all animals - for the rest of their lives. They also got to keep the cute plasticine figurines of their professor that they'd so skillfully made.
And those of us looking on with misty eyes were once again so proud that children so badly affected by the tragedy of last May were now swearing their love and devotion to this amazing species - true heroes in the community - who so readily give of their hearts to help ours.
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Our staff around the world are nothing short of incredible, tirelessly working behind the scenes and injecting professionalism and integrity into the heart of our campaigns.
Sometimes they even inject humour – and this is where Chiu our Art Director shines. Whether it’s the signage at our sanctuary or creating imaginative cartoons of bears, dogs and cats, Chiu can be seen quietly and creatively sketching the images that connect people in a different and inspiring way to the animal world.
Here’s Chiu taking a minute away from drawing, to saying hello to Jasper and the bears in House 2, and below, his fabulous signage that hangs outside every enclosure whenever the bears are out having fun.
Chiu’s visit was over too quickly, but before he returned to Hong Kong he had the chance to enjoy the wonderful vegetarian food prepared by our cooks for our special vegetarian Friday in Chengdu.
Again, it was Chiu who created the fantastic posters advertising why vegetarian food is so good for the animals, for us, and the earth.
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The rain poured down, the guests flowed in, and our hearts soared as our beautiful Vietnam bears experienced the simple joy of walking on grass for the first time.
Like the weather, wild animals are unpredictable, and despite the skies turning a glorious blue shortly after the downpour, and a milling media pack eager to take photos, many of the residents of our splendid new bear house chose to stay inside their dens for much of the day.
It was the Opening of the first Double Bear House and Enclosures at our sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park near Hanoi last Thursday, and guests, including representatives from a number of foreign embassies, NGOs and government officials, were looking on.
At first, we were disappointed, because we were hoping our guests would have the chance to see all the bears at their frolicking best, lost in giddy play as they always are once they become confident enough in their grassy enclosures and the great outdoors.
Luckily, brave little juveniles Mischa and Olly in the moon bear enclosure and gentle David over in the sun bear enclosure were happy to take the limelight - tentatively strolling around their new home, (all the while keeping a wary eye on their adoring human visitors) and so coaxing a few other bears to come out. Here's Olly explring his new home:
These three kept everyone enthralled as they sniffed out treats hidden around the climbing enclosures, dipping their paws in the pool and soaking up the warm spring sunshine.
At one point all that five moon bears that have been “fence-trained” over the past few days, were seen scrambling around the enclosure furniture, eagerly sniffing out strawberry jam and pieces of fruit, before Mausi, Mara and Marmite grabbed some toys and browse enrichment and retired back to their dens to investigate their new finds.
It was enough simply to see these beautiful animals learning to be "bears" for the first time in their lives, and also seeing their den-mates safe and cosy in their hanging-basket beds – but best of all is that these bears are free to make the choice of whether to stay in their dens or go out.
Over the 10 years we've been working in Vietnam, we've faced many hurdles – some big, some small – but so far we've managed to scramble over them all. That’s because our organisation, like our sturdy new Double Bear House, is built on solid foundations.
The progress we’ve made has been amazing and there are many people I’d like to thank for that, not least of all you, our loyal supporters.
You’ve stuck by us through the tough times, making sure we have the funds and resources – both material, spiritual and emotional – to continue our work promoting change from within Asia’s developing countries.
Your support has already indirectly, but concretely, helped many bears and other animals in Vietnam and throughout Asia. I am truly grateful for that.
I must also thank our government partners, without whose trust and cooperation, our dream of a Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Vietnam would have remained just that – a dream.
Thanks also to those other NGOs, both local and international (WWF, WSPA, ENV, Blue Dragon, East meets West Foundation, ACRES), and the customs officials and environmental police who are working alongside us to protect the animals of this beautiful country.
Thanks to Wayne, Aaron, Chris, Peter and the whole team from Al Fresco’s group Vietnam, who so generously kept everyone fed and happy with the most amazing combination of Vietnamese and Western vegetarian food.
Other special guests made the day perfect too Hong Kong board member Joe Hancock, friends from our generous Italian office Carmen and Irene and long-time wonderful supporters Jo Politis and Richard Collins, who flew in from Australia to be with their sponsored bears, Jarvis and little cub Taurus.
And there are two wonderful women I cannot thank enough for helping to make the Opening of our Double Bear House and Enclosures last Thursday so special – actress Maggie Q, our Moon Bear Rescue Ambassador, Vietnam, and our dear friend and supporter, renowned primatologist Dr Dame Jane Goodall.
Here's a lovely pic of Maggie meeting little Taurus, who has just joined us at the sanctuary after being stolen by poachers from the wild. Sadly, without his mother, he would not be able to fend for himself.
It was such a pleasure to be able to spend some time with Maggie, who so kindly accepted our invitation to attend the opening. She expected none of “the Hollywood star treatment” as she effortlessly "wowed!" everyone she met with her natural, easy charm – and her smile!
Maggie, whose Vietnamese heritage means so much to our campaign (and who has featured in the "Mission: Impossible" and "Die Hard" movies alongside the likes of Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis) recently squeezed into her busy schedule the making of a passionate new public service announcement about out Moon Bear Rescue in Vietnam. Naturally, we took the opportunity to launch it at the opening. A world premiere!
And here's some insider celebrity gossip – Maggie Q is as beautiful off-screen and as she is on, and inside as she is out!
We were thrilled when Jane Goodall, who has been a dear friend of the bears over the years, so kindly took the time to record and send us a video message of support and a greeting from “her” chimps of Gombe, Africa to “our” bears of Vietnam, which we proudly played at the opening.
As Jane’s chimp vocalisations echoed around the hills of Tam Dao it brought it home to us all how connected we are in empathy and respect for the animal world. Thanks so much Jane and love from all of us – and the bears send their greetings back to you and the chimps in Gombe!
And finally, there's our wonderful, committed Vietnam staff – everyone from Tuan Bendixsen our Vietnam Director, who oversaw the opening in his usual resourceful and cheery style, to the cooks, vets, bear teams and drivers to the security teams, admin, accounts and media staff. Their resilience, humour, hard work and professionalism shine through in the smile on every face at the rescue centre.
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