The pictures speak for themselves about this novel piece of enrichment, which came all the way back from my quick trip to the UK and ended up in the enclosure of House 2.
I'd jokingly asked Senior Bear Manager Nic if Jasper could have it first and, as we stood on the viewing deck of the House and watched when the den doors opened, who out of 21 bears strolled casually over to gain possession? Of course the man himself.
Sadly for Jasper, he didn't monopolise it for long. Within minutes, elderly Woodley had tottered over to join in the fun, pulling it sneakily from under Jasper's nose and, together with Roberta, enjoyed a gift that doubled in appreciation, with the contents devoured and the hamper destroyed.
Happy New Year to one and all from bearland!
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Hot on the heels of our UK trekkers to Vietnam, came our friends from Oz! Their trip involved several hours on site at our sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park before beginning the trek that would see them heading out of their comfort zone and experiencing the “real” Vietnam.
Although I wasn’t able to be there for this initial visit, I heard from the team how well it had gone – and how much the trekkers were looking forward to starting their incredible journey.
After dinner at a local restaurant, the visitors climbed Tam Dao Mountain. Then they were off – heading out on an unforgettable trek through remote hill tribe villages and experiencing a vivid journey challenging body and mind.
Luckily I was at the sanctuary in Tam Dao when they returned, exhausted but absolutely glowing with excitement that they’d overcome every difficult challenge and had helped the bears with each and every step. It was wonderful to see them and to hear their stories of hours of physical excess, while sharing the lives and homes of local Vietnamese villagers along the way.
Then it was off to the see the bears in their dens one last time and to enjoy the antics of the cublets (Taurus, Angus and Maggie), and to see the incredible progress of one of our latest bear arrivals – “Yen Bai”. Although he wasn’t yet integrated with the bears next door – there was no doubt that he couldn’t wait for this to happen, and all the signs of putting paws and noses through the bars were positive and fun to see.
No one would have guessed the bleakness and boredom of his previous life as he tore around the den shredding his browse, standing on still-wobbly back legs and destroying his toys, showing his audience how their faith and funding has helped him on his way.
As he plunged his bottom into the large water bowl meant for drinking and sat blissfully in the water like a child in a paddling pool it was the perfect way of saying a grateful thank you and fond farewell to our friends from Oz.
Please see here for a report on the trek and some great photos that just might inspire you to join one of our future treks - the next one being organised by our Australian team is to Chengdu and includes hiking through some amazingly beautiful surrounding countryside. And of course a visit to our bears!
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Over 250 members of the TCM community in China and across the world joined together in Beijing in the last weekend of November for the “International Symposium for the Conservation of Endangered Species and Traditional Chinese Medicine”. The symposium was sponsored by the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) and Animals Asia Foundation, together with the generous help of the Maria Norbury Foundation and Hauser Bears.
The idea for collaboration had originally been discussed between Lixin Huang, President of the ACTCM, and our own US Director, Alice Ng – and it was a dream come true to see this surge of support for the bears by such respected people in the TCM community. Lixin herself made the feelings of her College very clear when we talked together at the Asia Society in San Francisco a few weeks ago. She said:
“Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) promotes harmony and healing. Using bear bile and endangered species in TCM does not support harmony or healing. Many products containing bear bile are not prescribed or recommended by TCM doctors. We ask bear farmers not to use the excuse of traditional medicine as a reason for farming bears, because we do not need bear bile to save patient lives.”
The gathering saw herbal vendors, practitioners, scholars, government officials and policy-makers from the fields of TCM and environmental conservation. Eighteen leaders from across China were selected by ACTCM to address conservation policy, alternatives to the use of endangered species, as well as specific medicinal species such as bears, pangolin and turtles.
As I said to Lixin when the conference began, I’ve waited nearly 25 years for this moment – to see experts coming together with the common message that animals should not end their lives to save ours. It was a true celebration of the harmony between animal welfare and Chinese medicine. At this point of course we are focusing on endangered species, but the debate has begun to include all animals and this is the mission of Animals Asia to reach that goal.
We sponsored three experts in their field to attend this conference, experts with whom we have been working to address the use of, and alternatives to, bear bile, the appalling cancers found in farmed bears, and the ongoing research to find substitutes that are superior to the “real thing". All of these experts support the call that bear farming should end.
Professor Liu Zheng Cai, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor with whom we’ve been working for many years, was first. With his mix of serious discussion and, occasionally, a wry sense of humour, he had the audience captivated – especially at one point when he pointedly asked: “The bears have cancer themselves, so how can they possibly cure it?!”
Chengdu pathologist Dr Wang Sheng Xian was next, showing the pathology of the liver cancers and compromised gall bladders of bears we have loved and lost. The slides flashed up on the screen showing the tumours found on each bear – every one a number for Dr Wang’s presentation purposes – but every one a friend to us. Hope, Chengdu Truth, Mango, Xiao Hei, Saskia, Kiki, Willow, Fuzzy and, of course No. 1 – Andrew – showing wave after wave of cancers that have invaded and ended the lives of our bears.
Dr Feng Yibin from the University of Hong Kong School of Chinese Medicine discussed his exciting research with the herb, coptis – funded by Frank Pong Fai and his family and with matching funds from the Hong Kong Government. In his paper, “Research Project on Alternative Drugs or Substitutes for Bear Bile”, Dr Feng demonstrated that his research was rapidly unveiling something which was not just a substitute for bear bile – but better than bear bile. He made clear that the usage of bear bile was a problem of history, culture and economy and was rapidly becoming a political issue too.
Speaker after speaker followed, endorsing the message from our experts – one professor even boldly claimed that there was no need to cling on to traditional herbs if the synthetic preparations were proven to be equally effective – “Why not introduce these into mainstream medicine too if they can help to save the lives of endangered species?”
And it was all going so well until Professor Wang Liang Xin from the north of China began his presentation and showed pictures of farmed animals, including bears, while making the astonishing statement that it was fine to consume wildlife, provided that they were farmed. This was perhaps not surprising, given that we found out later that he was from Heilongjiang, where a large number of bears are caged and victimised for the bear bile industry.
I fumed and thought to myself, how is it that some people lost their humanity to the point that they view farmed animals as “things” to be exploited, and somehow different from their wild counterparts. It was too harrowing to contemplate and I wondered if he had grandchildren who listened to his views, and sadly reflected upon the next generation of his family growing up to hate bears so much that they didn't care if they lay caged and tortured until they died.
After his presentation, he passed me on the way out and I had to follow him and ask him why. As we spoke, I saw a man with kind eyes who told me that the bear farms in Heilongjiang produced their bile with no harm to the animals concerned. He really believed it was true. Thank goodness for Toby (our Director of External Affairs) who had joined us – he picked up the reigns, and explained in rapid and measured Chinese about the methods of farming and bile extraction, which are extremely painful and compromising to the bears’ health.
And with that, in a moment of time when everything changed, Professor Wang admitted it must be true, nodding sadly with the realisation. He added thoughtfully that he would like to think of ideas to introduce education programmes to help people understand that they must not treat bears like this. This was an issue of education not money – changing the mindset and persuading farmers that they could not treat animals in this way.
And with that I felt a huge weight taken away – here was an intelligent, respected professor with a lifelong belief that farming animals of any species was fine, and now his mind was changing fast.
Lixin Huang then took the stage and asked all in the audience to sign an open letter to bring a “healthier attitude” to TCM practitioners – which broadly meant bringing exploitation to an end.
At the end of the first day, a student of TCM shyly approached us and held up a slogan he had drawn after hearing the presentations on bear farming. His simple sign, “Save the Bears”, said it all about the growing support within the TCM community for bringing bear farming to an end.
And, before leaving the conference, Professor Wang Liang Xin approached Toby again asking if he could email him and discuss more ideas to help the bears – and I knew that the message of “healing without harm” will one day prevail.
Here's a pic taken at the symposium of Dr Wang, Dave our Animal Welfare Director, myself, Professor Liu, Professor Feng Yibin and Rainbow Zhu Ke, our China PR and Education Manager.
Please see here for more photos and our report on the symposium.
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Good news from Vietnam! We recently welcomed a lovely 14-year-old male moon bear (nicknamed “Misa Hai”) to our Vietnam sanctuary. This poor boy had spent years trapped in a dark, dingy cage built into a couple’s kitchen in their house in Hue in central Vietnam (about 720km from our Tam Dao rescue centre). I’ll hand over to our Vietnam Director, Tuan, for details of the rescue and “Misa Hai’s” tragic story.
He was bought by the owner when he was a cub of about 30kg, when he was attacked by a group of soldiers. Misa Hai was hit across the face with a plank resulting in some damage to his face and teeth. He was kept in the owners’ kitchen at the back in a very dark area. We could hardly see him because it was so dark and we could not see inside the cage or the flooring. The owners were forced to hand the bear to us when they could not conform to the Hue Forest Protection Department’s latest inspection requirements, thus it was a voluntary confiscation.
He has very bad teeth, with virtually no front teeth, a combination of initial injury and a very bad diet of congee/soup like meals.
Although the owners (a middle-aged couple) showed genuine concern for Misa Hai, they could not explain why they kept him in such bad conditions, and for so long. They said they extracted bear bile only once a year and for their own use, because they were both diabetic. But they had a sign outside their house advertising the sale of fresh bear bile. And on occasion, the owner let out that they extracted bile every few months or so.
Overall, the rescue went well, although it was difficult because the cage was so dark and we had to work in the dark inside the cage when we tried to get Misa out. Hue FPD, Hue TV and local press, and the owner were very impressed with Leanne and Kirsty’s vet skills in darting and doing a quick health-check, including intravenous fluid transfusion, and the level of professionalism of our team in carrying out the rescue.
Hue FPD was very organised and helpful, and they have informed me that Hue Province now has no official bear farm.
And an update from vet Kirsty after Misa Hai’s health-check back at the rescue centre:
He was such a good boy – rode back into the quarantine area in a TC [transport cage] and looked like he was really enjoying the ride – or actually like he thought he was driving the TC!
Much more relaxed than when he first arrived. His anaesthetic went very smoothly and he got a thorough check over and was in pretty good shape considering his history, until of course we got to his mouth.
[Vet] Leanne’s description of the teeth was “they are all repulsive. His back teeth were all loose as well, and when we wobbled them, pus poured out from around them. So needless to say, he lost almost all of them, and is left with bottom incisors (now white instead of black) and only three other teeth. The old fracture at the front of his upper jaw, and the fistulas leading to his nose were both examined, but sadly are beyond repair.
He is now doing really well – frequently seen lounging around on his back. He is struggling to eat anything other than blended mush and will probably be like this until his gums all heal, but luckily he loves his food and seems to get just as excited about blended mush as anything else. And he will be getting lots of smeary enrichment which he also loves. :-)
He still has a long way to go, but this beautiful bear will never again live in darkness and fear. Instead he’ll have a bright new world to explore – every day for the rest of his life. Please see here for more photos from the rescue.
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Have had a wonderful week with my sister Anne and family in the UK - where we also enjoyed the award-winning Christmas play, "Skellig", at the Bloomsbury Theater in London, with all seats so generously donated by the Birmingham Stage Company as a fundraiser for Animals Asia.
A truly magical play where goodness prevails and just fabulous to see friends and supporters who had braved the bad weather and come along to join in the fun.
BBC "Floggit" host, lovely Paul Martin (who sponsors our gorgeous Bluebelle bear - named after his beloved dog), kindly came along to help us with the auction at the end of the evening - with an amazing array of donated gifts, including another perfect bear sculpture by Suzie Marsh. Sadly our UK Patron, and Founder of Born Free Foundation, Virgina McKenna, was snowbound and couldn't make the show - but sent a beautiful message which Paul read out to the audience.
Now leaving on Boxing Day to return to Hong Kong and China, and quickly catching up with events around the world before leaving. There was a story on Sky News about a hippo sanctuary in Israel where the animals were "breeding too much" - so what do they do? Anaesthetise them at night, crate them up, and ship them to zoos across the world. The zoologist they interviewed proudly boasted that any zoo taking them would have an animal that will "make you very happy for 40 years".
As I sadly watched the broadcast, I could hardly believe what I heard next from my niece, Nicole, as she blinked at the screen and said in a quiet voice: "They're splitting up families". Perhaps the message of animal welfare is getting through more than we realise and there is hope for all species if an 11-year-old can so wisely understand their plight.
See here for the full story.
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