There are currently over 4,000 bears on farms in Vietnam. Bear farming and the extraction of bear bile is illegal, but because of the number of bears on farms it is not possible for the authorities to confiscate them all. The Vietnamese Government manages the situation through a World Society for the Protection of Animals-instigated microchipping programme to identify the 4,000 captive bears currently on farms.

The aim of the microchipping programme is to stop the hunting of the few remaining bears in the wild to replenish the farms. The authorities have declared they will confiscate any non-microchipped bears.

In November 2005, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the Vietnamese government to rescue 200 bears and rehabilitate them at our Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Tam Dao National Park. Our rescue centre is currently home to 28 bears confiscated by the government and is ready to receive more bears rescued from bear farms.

On 2 October 2009, Vietnam’s Environmental Police and the local Ha Long Police caught employees of the Dai Yen bear farm illegally extracting and selling bear bile to Korean tourists.

Twenty-four non-microchipped bears are being held illegally on this farm and our team in Vietnam is working relentlessly to see the Vietnamese authorities confiscate these bears and release them to our Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Tam Dao National Park.

While we are encouraged by this police raid our Vietnam Director, Tuan Bendixsen said at the end of October: "It's now almost four weeks since the arrests and still no one has been charged and nothing has been done to confiscate these bears. If the Vietnamese Government is serious about ending bear-bile farming in this country, it must act immediately to ensure these 24 bears are confiscated and transferred to us so our vets and expert bear managers can begin to repair the damage inflicted by the ruthless farmers, who are openly flouting the law.”

Following the successful response to our supporter appeal for letters to the Vietnamese Prime Minister, which has generated more than 7.000 letters, our Vietnam team is generating international political support for the release of these 24 bears. Please help us by writing to your country’s embassy using the contact details here.

We have provided a sample letter below for you to send to your country’s Ambassador to Vietnam by either email or by post.