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| Jill with Vietnamese government officials in the surgery at our rescue centre in Chengdu in June 2004. |
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Jill feeds a farmed moon bear on a Vietnamese bear farm in October 2004. |
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The Animals Asia team have been investigating bear farming in Vietnam since 1999. Following our exposure of the practice and the shocking new techniques which were being used to extract the bears' bile (which had never been revealed before), we continued with countless field trips documenting the ongoing abuse of farmed bears and working with members of the Vietnamese Government in various departments across the country.
In July 2001, after lobbying foreign Embassies and non-government organisations in Vietnam for support, Animals Asia submitted official letters to Prime Minister Mr. Phan Van Khai , the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and other government departments, encouraging them to urgently act and end the illegal bear bile industry.
Finally in September 2002, following 3 years of intensive work and publicity by Animals Asia and, encouraged by local government and non-government groups within the country, a historic ruling was passed by his excellency Pham Van Khai and the Government of Vietnam, which placed Asiatic Black Bears onto the highest level of protection in the country - thus making the hunting, keeping and exploitation of all bear species for the bile industry entirely illegal.
More meetings ensued over the next two years between Animals Asia and the Government of Vietnam until finally, in June 2004, a landmark three- day workshop was sponsored and hosted by us at our Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu. Attending this important workshop were Government members of the Forest Protection Departments of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, the Ministry of Health and the Director of Hanoi's National Hospital of Traditional Medicine, who were joined by members of the Chinese Government's Sichuan Forestry Department, who have supported our work and rescue in China since the year 2000.
Animals Asia seized this opportunity to state our ongoing objection with regard to the Vietnam Government's refusal to ban breeding on the bear farms. We reiterated our concern that while the Government was stating their intention to wind the farms down, the ongoing breeding would in fact enable the industry to continue and possibly expand. As this was an issue which we recognised was absolutely fundamental to the long term aim of bringing the practice to an end, we made the decision to withdraw on the consultation and construction of a large rescue centre as requested by the Government, but to concentrate on other programmes in Vietnam which would address the issue through an education and public awareness approach. In yet another meeting with the Vietnam Government towards the end of 2004, we once again raised our concerns, and called upon them to ban breeding on the bear farms and to order the immediate ban of bile extraction and sale countrywide.
Our ongoing discussions resulted in the Vietnam Government making a firm commitment to phase out bear farming in 2005 and on 16 November 2005, Animals Asia signed a formal Agreement to rescue 200 farmed bears in Hanoi!
With over 200 farmed bears already rescued by Animals Asia in China, we are in a strategic position to expose and address the concerns and impacts behind the bear farming industry in the region and will continue our work towards bringing it to an end once and for all. |
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| Vietnam bear undergoing bile extraction in October 2004. |
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| Vet Director, Gail Cochrane, explaining the impact of bear farming to Vietnamese officials, during on a farmed bear at the rescue centre in Chengdu in June 2004. |
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| Jill showing Vietnamese officials the Education Classroom in Chengdu in June 2004. |
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| Vietnamese and Chinese government officials and AAF staff, round up the 3 day workshop on bear farming at our rescue centre in Chengdu, China. |
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