Animals Asia staff in Hong Kong received a surprise last week, when a four-year-old boy walked into the office to donate his birthday money – and asked to see the bears.

Animal-loving Kirin Ahluwalia, who will turn five this month, has been a vegetarian all his short life – as are his parents and grandparents.

The bears Animals Asia cares for are almost 1,400 kms away at its Chengdu sanctuary so Kirin had to make do with giant fluffy moon bears instead.

After hearing about the bears that Animals Asia care for - Kirin became sad that they suffer such extreme cruelty. He was, however, heartened by our bear rescues, and decided to donate his birthday money to our efforts to end bear bile farming.

Kirin told Animals Asia staff that he would tell all his friends about the plight of moon bears. The young animal welfare advocate also counselled on the importance of vegetarianism in others, reminding everyone that animals have "mammas and daddas" too.

Animals Asia founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE, said:

"Animals Asia would like to send a massive thank you to Kirin for his compassion and willingness to help end the suffering of Asia's moon bears. Our motto is 'until the cruelty ends' and we will need new generations to take up that challenge. We have no doubt that Kirin will do this superbly well - our young champion for the bears."

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