My family Christmas tradition is to receive and enjoy a wonderful hamper from a friend in Hong Kong, which is always opened in the UK by my niece Nicole (seen here sitting inside the empty hamper with Jasper the cat).
Once the goodies inside have been shared between us, I then bring the empty hamper back to Chengdu to be filled with goodies for the bears for their New Year treat. Last year, we placed the hamper in the enclosure of House 2 where
My family Christmas tradition is to receive and enjoy a wonderful hamper from a friend in Hong Kong, which is always opened in the UK by my niece Nicole (seen here sitting inside the empty hamper with Jasper the cat).
The panto in London last Monday night was just the medicine we needed as everyone here in the UK seems to be battling the snow. Hats off to all who braved the elements and made it to the Bloomsbury Theatre to join Gill, Nicky and the Animals Asia team and I, and of course our glorious UK Patron Virginia Mckenna OBE who reduced everyone to tears at the interval as she read her poem remembering our poignant visit to the bear farms of
The recent story about Tremor joining Judy and family in the UK missed out another very lucky dog — Matilda. Now, as her “mum”, Heather, is sadly leaving us to return to the UK, it seems fitting to mention them both and to say a fond farewell to our Veterinary Director Heather, who for the past three and a half years, has cared for our bears with love and compassion.
Following the sad blogs on Vietnam over the past few days, it’s such a delight to let you know some good news coming out of Hanoi this week. Just recently our brilliant Vietnam team received clearance from the Hanoi government to transfer four bears to our sanctuary in Tam Dao.
As Morgan in our US office said when she sent me this lovely letter, along with a donation, “This is just too cute not to share.” It was sent in by Raoul Di Blasi of Kingston, Pennsylvania in reply to our gorgeous Woodley's Letter to Santa.
Prior to the seminar on bear farming at the European Parliament in Brussels, Dave, Toby, our Chinese Government friends and I met with Neil Parish MP at the Houses of Parliament in London.
The end of Virginia’s journey in Vietnam saw her spending the day with our vet team as Kirsty and Caroline spent hours in the surgery removing both upper canines, which were badly broken, exposing the pulp, from a bear called Halong. Virginia was absolutely mesmerised with the procedure and gently held Halong’s paw as Caroline monitored the anaesthetic, and Kirsty concentrated on removing his poor damaged teeth.
Early the next morning Virginia, Tuan, Chinh, The and I headed off to the bear farms of Phung Thoung Village near Hanoi. The first farm saw us being politely invited to drink tea by the owner, Ms Loc, before she showed us the bears. Kind as the offer was, it was of course the last thing we wanted to do and the small talk that ensued could hardly disguise the nervousness we felt in anticipation of soon meeting the caged bears.
"The Times" calls it "nasty, naughty fun" and indeed I know that this year's UK pantomime presentation of Roald Dahl's "George's Marvellous Medicine" on Monday 20th December is going to be a brilliant fun-filled night.
Billed as fizztickling fun and wizzpopping magic, the panto sees our incredibly generous friends at the Birmingham Stage Company putting on another Christmas panto for Animals Asia, where all proceeds will go to our beautiful bears in China and Vietnam.
Jill founded Animals Asia in 1998, after an encounter with a caged bear on a farm in China changed her life forever. She now heads a team of over 300 enthusiastic staff and divides her time between our bear rescue centres in China and Vietnam and our Hong Kong head office. She travels extensively to participate in conferences and speak at fundraising events.
Read more here.
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