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Our Vietnam bear sanctuary told to leave |
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Help us stop the eviction
Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre faces eviction from Tam Dao National Park, following an aggressive campaign by the park director, Do Dinh Tien and we need your help to ask Vietnam’s Prime Minister to stop this injustice.
The Ministry of Defence has issued an order to evict the rescue centre along with the 104 rescued bears currently living there and the 77 Vietnamese staff who would lose their jobs. This follows lobbying by Mr Tien to the ministry to declare the site an area of national defence significance. We believe Mr Tien wants us out so that a company that is part-owned by his daughter can build a tourist resort at the site.
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It would be heart-breaking to have to put these bears back into cages and abandon the sanctuary and the trust that we have worked so hard to build. To read more about the eviction, please see here.
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| Blind bear Grace goes outside for first time |
One of the bears facing eviction is Grace, a blind bear at our Vietnam sanctuary who was given enclosure access for the first time in late September. As soon as the sliding door opened from her den, she bravely stepped outside and set about exploring the great outdoors. She loved it – sniffing and tasting the grass and small plants. She navigated her way around, carefully at first then with growing confidence. Within days, Grace had explored every inch of her 2,700sqm enclosure and she had no trouble finding her way back to the den. Next Grace will be integrated gradually with others bears until she eventually makes her home among a group of 17 bears with similar disabilities or limited mobility.
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| Rescue comes just in time for two cubs |
Also facing eviction are Lai Chau and Sin Ho, two moon bears cubs that joined our Vietnam family in September after being saved from traders in Lai Chau Province, which is close to the border with China. The cubs were almost certainly on their way to a Chinese bear farm when they were discovered by local police in a cane basket on the back of a motorbike. Two men in charge of the bike were arrested, and they told the police they had bought the cubs for US$1,500 and were going to resell them to an unknown buyer. Thanks to the prompt actions of the police officers, and assistance of the local Forest Protection Department, these boisterous little cubs will never know the horrors of the bile trade, but neither will they grow up with their mother who was almost certainly slaughtered in the wild. See more about the cubs’ rescue on Jill’s Blog and visit our Rescue Diary to see how they are settling in.
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| Seminar for China’s top zoo vets |
Our vets shared their expertise with China’s senior zoo vets at a seminar at Beijing Zoo in September. The three-day seminar on advanced specialist techniques saw 30 of the best of China’s zoo vets coming together to improve their knowledge so they can then improve the welfare of animals under their care.
Read more here.
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| Undercover film ‘Moon Bear’ wins award |
“Moon Bear” the undercover documentary showing the brutality of the bear bile industry across China, won a top award at the Fifth China Ya’an International Panda, Animals and Nature Film Week this August. The documentary, which was filmed undercover by Elsa Xiong Jun Hui, Chen Yuan Zhong and Tu Qiao, was named “Best Educational Value” film. Click here to read more and to watch “Moon Bear”.
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| Guangzhou children learn responsible dog care |
Animals Asia stepped in after receiving many calls from northeast China’s Harbin City about the harsh terms of the city’s new Dog Management Regulations released in April. Having worked with the Harbin officials before the regulations were formulated, we contacted them again to suggest a number of improvements to their new regulations, for instance, promoting responsible dog ownership instead of banning dogs because of their breed, and exempting families that already have more than one dog from the new one-dog rule.
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| ‘Moon Bear' illustrator Ed Young visits sanctuary |
Ed Young, the Caldecott Award-winning American illustrator behind children’s book “Moon Bear”, took a trip to China in August – visiting bears at our bear rescue centre in Chengdu and signing books at a Beijing event. “Moon Bear” was recently translated into Chinese, and is now available to families in China. Young’s event in Beijing was a huge success, with the artist signing more than 400 books for Chinese fans. Read more about Ed Young’s visit in Jill’s Blog.
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| IUCN speaks out on bear bile farming |
The bear bile farming industry was put on notice in September when the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) passed a resolution calling for an end to the practice. The resolution was passed at the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in Jeju, South Korea. The Congress is the world’s largest and most important conservation event, gathering leaders from government, the public sector, non-governmental organisations, business, UN agencies and social organisations. See here for more.
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| Summer camp for volunteers and dog guardians |
To thank our Dr Dog guardians and volunteers for their continued contributions to Animals Asia’s ever-growing Cat and Dog Welfare programmes in China, we recently held “Volunteer Summer Camps” for our volunteers in three Chinese cities. Forty-six of our volunteers and their family members joined the events in June, including animal welfare presentations, a visit to our China Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu and a field trip to the Hong Kong SPCA. The camp was divided into two sessions – one for northwest China’s Chengdu city and the other for south China’s Guangzhou and Shenzhen cities. See here for more.
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| Last bear rescued from Cat Ba Island |
It was an extra-special occasion when our Vietnam team welcomed beautiful “Cat Ba” home to our Tam Dao sanctuary in July. Not only was this young female bear safe forever from the terrible bile industry, but her rescue signalled an end to bear bile farming on the island. Sixteen bears were once held captive on the island, which is a popular tourist destination in Ha Long Bay, but thanks to the efforts of one man, all have now been rescued. See here for more.
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| Don’t miss our great new gifts |
Please think of the bears when choosing your end-of-year gifts for family and friends. This year, we have some very cool limited-edition T-shirts and other great new merchandise thanks to some fantastic young designers who have donated their work for free. And of course we also have a great choice of “Gifts for the bears” where your donation makes an even bigger impact. When you give a “Gift for the Bears” – it could be a basket of fruit or a sturdy toy to help the bears rehabilitate – your donation sponsors an item that directly helps the recovering bears at our sanctuaries.
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| Paws for Thought |
Our lovely animal-therapy dogs and human volunteers have been as busy as ever, bringing unconditional comfort and love to those in need in three Mainland Chinese cities and Hong Kong. Go to our latest Paws for Thought for the latest news on our Dr Dog and Professor Paws programmes.
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