Ems VN at Moon Bear Rescue Centre, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

All donAtions Are welcome. PleAse give generously At www.AnimAlsAsiA.org

With a new year, came a

new challenge! After the

joys of raising cheetah

cubs in the South African

sunshine (see PAP1), this

year saw me jetting off to

chilly China to work with

a magnificent species new

to my repertoire - the

Asiatic black bear or moon

bear, so called for the

beautiful gold crescents

they wear proudly on

their chests. They are

close relations of the

more familiar American

black bear and were once

widely spread throughout

Asia. In the wild they are

good climbers and eat

everything from fruits and

nuts, to insects, birds and

bamboo.

Bears have long held

fascination for people.

Across the world, in myths

and tales, bears have

been seen as distant souls,

imbued by culture with

fierce but kindly natures.

It may be their expressive

faces, quick intelligence

and awesome strength or

something else, but bears

seem close to our hearts

– we see something of

ourselves in them.

It is with heavy heart

that I have to report these

beautiful creatures are

critically endangered in

the wild, although in China

alone, thousands live a life

of misery and despair, no

use to their wild cousins in

their fight for survival.

Countless bears can be

found in dire conditions,

imprisoned in tiny cages

where they have neither

the room to stand nor turn.

They are “farmed” for their

bile, a precious commodity

in traditional Chinese

medicine. Said to help

with numerous complaints

ranging from liver disease,

ophthalmic problems to

even cancer, bear bile is

procured in a barbaric

fashion. The bears are fed

through the bars while the

painful procedure of bile

extraction is carried out

each day.

Some have permanent

catheters, crude metal

pipes inserted directly

through the abdomen into

the gall bladder, from which

the liquid is withdrawn;

others suffer the ‘free

drip method’, supposed

permanent holes in the

gall bladder stitched open

against the body wall, re-

punctured every day as

the body vainly tries to

heal over. In these barbaric

farms, bears are often

declawed or have their teeth

smashed to prevent them

fighting back during their

torture.

The saddest part of the

nightmare is that the

wonder component of bear

bile, ursodeoxycholic acid

(UDCA), is fully replaceable

with herbal and synthetic

alternatives which are

cheaper and more effective,

leaving the business of bear

farming obsolete. The scale

of production is so huge that

supply outstrips demand

many times, so bear bile can

now be found in products

which offer no benefit to

health at all such as tea,

wine and shampoo, just to

get rid of the stockpiles.

However, all is not lost

in the fight for the moon

bear. An incredible, devoted

and hard working British

woman, Jill Robinson,

discovered this infernal

practice in 1993 and has

made it her life’s work

to end bear bile farming

in China and other Asian

countries. She founded

Animals Asia Foundation

in 1998 and, working with

the Chinese authorities, set

up the Moon Bear Rescue

Centre near Chengdu,

Sichuan Province in

China in 2000. Animals

Asia signed an historic

and ground-breaking

agreement with the Chinese

Government to work

towards an end to bear

farming and rescuing these

glorious creatures. Although

the practice of bear farming

is still not illegal, no new

licences are being granted,

so once a farm is closed

down, it’s closed down for

good. Progress is slow, but

the work goes on and more

and more bears are being

rescued, nurtured and

restored to more normal

living, free from abuse.

All of the staff at the centre

are dedicated to the plight

of the moon bears and I was

honoured to join them for

three months as a volunteer.

Working as a vet nurse,

I got hands-on time with

these beautiful creatures

and my mind was opened

and educated to the heinous

practice of bile farming. At

the centre, the bears are

treated gently and kindly,

probably for the first time

in their lives. Often cruelly

handicapped and always

mentally traumatised, they

slowly recover function

and character, and get

to be bears again. It was

shocking to see their plight

but heart-warming to aid

their recuperation. However,

nothing could have prepared

me for the atrocity I was to

witness on what was meant

to be my last day at the

centre.

After months of negotiations, another bile farm had

eventually closed and we prepared to receive its 28 bears.

The day dragged on as their 12.30pm arrival time slipped

by, but finally, at 8pm that evening, the three trucks

loaded with bears arrived. As the trucks trundled into

view, we all took a deep breath as, excited as we were for

their arrival, we did not know what to expect.

HORROR.

It took us three and a

half hours to unload the

trucks, the last one filled

with the most badly abused

animals I have ever seen.

All the bears were totally

emaciated, some with

revoltingly large hernias

over their bile extraction

sites, others with huge

wounds, abscesses and

alopecia, many with broken

teeth from years of bar

biting, trying in vain to get

out of the cages, the pain

and suffering written across

their brows. One by one,

each bear was carefully

unloaded from the trucks,

and we began to see how

they had been squeezed into

tiny cages, unable to move.

Low groans emanated from

bears further back, yet to

be seen.

The final blow was on the

last truck where we found

one of the bears dead on

arrival, unable to make

the journey to freedom. He

had fought the hard fight

for too long and had died,

yet to hear a gentle word

or feel a tender touch. His

misery was over, but not

without horrific suffering.

When removed from his

cage, we saw that one hind

foot had been severely

injured, possibly caught in

the bars, a mangled lump

of dying tissue and exposed

bone. Even worse was

the discovery of the front

paw that he had chewed

through, self-mutilating in

a vain attempt to eliminate

the pain from the other

unattainable source, the

hind foot he could not reach

due to the confines of

his cage.

All of the bears looked

terrified but even so, as

each was offered juicy fruit

on arrival, it was grabbed

with very grateful paws

and devoured immediately.

Twenty-seven live bears

were welcomed into our

care that night, and for the

first time heard a soft word

and were shown respect.

We carefully transported

the bears into their new

homes where they would

be quarantined for the

next few months; we felt

a mixture of elation and

despair, delighted that these

bears were free, disgusted

that humans could cause

so much suffering for a

product we don’t even need.

What brings it home to me,

is that until recently there

was no term in Mandarin

for animal welfare. It is

a new concept. However,

things are changing fast in

China and the terrible state

of these bears has caused

people to sit up and take

notice. Seeing the atrocious

treatment of the bears in

farms alienates people from

their products.

PleAse give generously At www.AnimAlsAsiA.org All donAtions Are welcome.

The future is brighter for

the new bears that have

made it. Sadly, so far,

16 of the 28 bears we

received have succumbed to

their fate. Their suffering

is finally over, most

euthanised due to being

either riddled with liver

tumours, the silent killer

of the bile trade, or simply

unable to make the long,

slow journey back from the

brink of death; their bodies

were just too broken, too

weak to recover.

To date, 247 moon bears

have been rescued by

Animals Asia Foundation,

and their lives of misery

and despair have come to

an end. Now they live in

the comfort and security

of this fantastic facility

where they feel the sun on

their backs, share joyous

relationships and have full

tummies. Watching these

bears leading carefree lives,

as they wrestle with their

friends or explore the new

enrichment offered each

day is heart-warming. Their

raw memories of a painful

existence, the years of daily

torture, are visibly fading

into the distance. It is

impossible not to empathise.

Pain is pain no matter what

the species.

This place fulfils the true

meaning of the word

sanctuary – a place of

refuge and asylum, and we

hope for ever more new

bears to join their brothers

as they are released from

their lives of wretchedness.

I’m so honoured to have

been able to make a small

difference in these bears’

lives – the little time I spent

in theirs enriching mine

forever.

Please join me in helping

support this wonderful

organisation whose devoted

staff I salute for their

dedication and love. Long

nights lie ahead, but I know

they will be there, watching

over, helping, healing, never

complaining.

More than 7,000 bears

are still trapped in farms

throughout China. Some

have been incarcerated for

more than 20 years.

There is a proverb in

Mandarin which says “To

close your eyes will not

ease another’s pain”.

For me that says it all.

Ems VN