Asiatic black bear resting in tall green grass and foliage in a natural outdoor enclosure.

Pickle Nicol

From pain and scars to peace and sanctuary

Pickle Nicol was one of 132 bears discovered in 2013 on a former bile farm in Nanning, China. Though bile extraction had stopped two years earlier, the legacy of cruelty lingered.

When the new landowner saw the squalid conditions – tiny, barren yards, little water, poor food, and zero medical care – he turned to Animals Asia for help. And so began one of our most ambitious missions.

We stayed at Nanning for eight years, caring for the bears while lobbying for the transport permits needed for their freedom. In 2021, the gates finally opened, and Pickle Nicol, once frail and forgotten, began her journey home.

Scars on the outside, and inside

When we met Pickle Nicol, she was skeletal. She’d been fed low-nutrition corn buns and bran gruel. 

She’d lost many of her teeth and some were diseased, her paws were declawed, and a blue cataract was forming in her right eye. She had a leaking wound on her belly – a remnant of the brutal bile extraction she’d endured – and deep scars from head rubbing and rocking: signs of a mind trying to cope with trauma.

Despite it all, Pickle Nicol was gentle. Wise. Her spirit, though battered, had not broken.

Asiatic black bear with cream chest marking looking out through the bars of a metal cage.
Asiatic black bear standing upright inside a metal cage, showing its cream-colored chest marking.
Close-up of an Asiatic black bear with a cream chest marking, looking alert in natural sunlight.
Rescue team moving a metal cage containing an Asiatic black bear along a concrete path outdoors.

Healing begins

Our team introduced her to fresh fruits, vegetables, cooling hose showers, treats frozen into ice blocks, and daily enrichment like leafy branches and toys. Browse offered stimulation, and paddling pools brought joy. 

She particularly loved her hose showers, once slapping her thigh to demand more when her hose-down was ending – a moment of humour and healing.

Pickle Nicol underwent a long health journey. Her teeth were extracted to ease her pain, and later, in a complex three-hour operation, her diseased gall bladder was removed. 

Afterwards, her carers saw a change: her repetitive behaviour eased, her fur grew back, and she gained weight. The pain was gone… she could finally enjoy her food.

A new home at last

In May 2021, Pickle Nicol arrived at Animals Asia’s sanctuary in Chengdu. After her quarantine, she was slowly introduced to more spacious enclosures, where she could move, explore, and simply be a bear. Her care team continues to monitor her vision – she lives with partial blindness from retinal degeneration – but she navigates her world with confidence, instinct and joy.

Love and friendship

In time, Pickle Nicol was integrated with Wilberforce, another Nanning bear. The two became inseparable – playing, wrestling and sleeping curled up in the same basket. Pickle Nicol’s new friendship was like a warm comfort blanket.

When Wilberforce passed away, Pickle Nicol mourned the loss of her closest friend. But love found her again in the form of Shanti, a gentle soul who helped her heal from grief. These bonds are reminders that bears, like us, feel deeply.

Asiatic black bear standing beside a pond in a grassy enclosure, tongue out, with trees and climbing structures nearby.
Two Asiatic black bears walking together on grassy ground inside a fenced outdoor habitat.
Asiatic black bear standing upright, leaning on wooden beams, holding food in an outdoor enclosure.
Asiatic black bear walking on green grass in an outdoor enclosure, tongue sticking out.

Pickle Nicol today – brave, beautiful, loved

Today, Pickle Nicol is thriving. The unique stripey scars on her forehead are marks of survival. Though her past was filled with pain, her days now are rich with warmth, choice, play and peace. She’s surrounded by friends – human and bear alike – who love her just as she is.