Cooperative Care – a deeper dive

Cooperative Care is the practice of giving animals choice and control during their treatment, using positive reinforcement to support both medical and behavioural care. It’s a method that prioritises the animal’s comfort and consent – and it’s transforming lives at our sanctuaries.

This deeper dive explores the principles, methods, and impact of Cooperative Care as practised with our rescued bears in Vietnam and China.

What is Cooperative Care?

Cooperative Care is a training approach that empowers animals to actively and voluntarily participate in their own care. Instead of being restrained or forced, animals are encouraged to make choices, and are rewarded for behaviours that help facilitate their health and wellbeing.

Originally developed in zoos and aquariums, this approach has expanded to many other animal care settings. It has become a powerful tool not only for wildlife but for companion animals too, improving their welfare and deepening their bond with carers.

Why Cooperative Care matters

Many of the bears at our sanctuaries have endured years of confinement and cruelty on bile farms. They arrive traumatised, with serious physical and psychological scars. Cooperative Care helps rebuild their trust, confidence, and autonomy.

This approach is grounded in positive reinforcement – rewarding a desired behaviour to encourage it to be repeated. It removes stress, fosters trust, and allows bears to become active participants in their recovery.

Importantly, animals can choose to walk away or opt for simpler behaviours if they’re uncomfortable. This creates a sense of safety and mutual respect between bear and carer.

Cooperative Care not only improves emotional wellbeing, but it can also benefit physical health. Chronic stress can suppress immune function, affect recovery and worsen disease. Reducing stress through gentle, choice-based care helps our bears heal, inside and out.

How Cooperative Care works at our sanctuaries

We start with foundation behaviours that form the basis of trust-building and communication between bear and trainer:

• Focus – the bear remains seated and attentive
• Wait – the bear stays in place while the trainer moves
• Follow – the bear follows the trainer from one area to another
• Target – the bear touches their nose to a target, such as a tennis ball on a stick, and moves to it

These simple behaviours are essential for setting up more complex medical procedures. The bear learns that every session is predictable, safe, and rewarding – and always has the option to opt out.

Once the foundations are solid, we progress to more advanced husbandry behaviours.

Medical behaviours made possible by trust

Cooperative Care enables our bears to undergo vital health checks and treatments without sedation or stress. Examples include:

• Open mouth: for monthly dental checks and to examine signs of pain or infection
• Nail trims: to manage overgrown nails from years in cages, preventing mobility issues
• Eye drops: bears like Annie accept daily treatment voluntarily
• Ear swabs: used to treat persistent infections, as in Fern’s case
• Blood draws: allow us to monitor liver, kidney and thyroid function without anaesthesia
• Blood pressure checks: collected while the bear is calm and awake, helping us manage hypertension more effectively
• Hand injections: trained to allow anaesthesia in safe, familiar environments rather than transport cages, reducing fear
• Conscious ultrasounds: enable us to assess internal organs such as the liver or kidneys without sedation, offering a clearer picture of long-term health for bears like Pretty, below

• Conscious x-rays: allow for the monitoring of musculoskeletal issues or internal complications while the bear remains calm and comfortable

These procedures were once only possible under sedation. Now, many can be carried out with the bear’s full cooperation, dramatically improving welfare.

A team effort rooted in kindness

Our Cooperative Care programme is a true collaboration between bear carers, veterinary teams, and behavioural specialists. What began with a handful of basic behaviours has grown into a sophisticated system, supported by over 40 trained staff working across our sanctuaries.

It is also a living demonstration of Animals Asia’s values: empathy, respect, courage, and tenacity. Cooperative Care is ‘Kindness in Action’ – and the bears know it.

From presenting a paw, to sitting calmly for treatment, every step is a testament to their resilience and the trust they’ve learned to place in the humans who care for them.

Cooperative Care isn’t just a method – it’s a relationship. And it’s helping rescued bears reclaim their lives, one choice at a time.