"As we receive the first 63 bears confiscated from bear farms in China, I marvel at how bears so maltreated by the torture of bear farming can come to so totally trust and forgive the same species that caused them pain - it is a lesson for us all.
As they arrive on trucks in rusting cages, with ages ranging from cubs to middle and old aged, our senses reel as we look in horror at dull, miserable eyes and smell the stench of rot and decay from infected and pain wracked bodies.
But as we offer them fruit through the bars of the cage, they gently purse their lips and take them slowly from our fingers. Our emotions range from elation that they will now receive only kindness, to anger that they have been so cruelly abused for something so easily replaced with herbs. Our greatest consolation is that the authorities have closed the farms so that no more bears will ever take their place.
The surgery to remove metal implants and repair their degraded bodies has already begun and we are horrified to witness the damage that has occurred and how they have managed to stay alive.
However, having seen how farmed bears can recover from such abuse, we know that they can survive - but that months of physiotherapy and tender loving care lie ahead to restore their physical and mental health.
The empty cages will be kept as a reminder of the torture and pain and as a symbol that, never again, must an animal suffer in this way.
We are grateful to the Chinese authorities, who have done everything to help the China Bear Rescue in an efficient way. We could not have done this without them and are confident, whilst we work towards the rescue of 500 bears that we are paving the way together for the future elimination of bear farming in China.
If the bears could talk they would say that they have finally come home - thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for your part in their journey; "from prisons...to paradise"......
