Moon bears safe on dry land after remote island rescue

Moon bears safe on dry land after remote island rescue

 

Moon bears Sam and Simon arrived back on Vietnam’s mainland today after four years on Vietnam’s remote Ba Mun island – just north of iconic tourist spot Halong Bay.
 
The rescue was described by Animals Asia as the most difficult they would ever perform – and was almost called off in the early hours of the morning when a storm engulfed the Bai Tu Long archipelago where Ba Mun is situated.
 
The port authorities allowed the rescue to continue after skies cleared at around 9am.
 
Animals Asia’s Vietnam Director Tuan Bendixsen said:
 
“Logistically, there was no room for leeway as we were at the mercy of both the weather and the tides. Fortunately the skies cleared in time for us to make it out to the island but the delay meant a race against time to get away before the tide went out.”
 
After two hours at sea a rescue team, including two veterinarians and a vet nurse, arrived at Ba Mun and began health checks on the moon bears.
 

In addition to the dangerous conditions, the rescue was made more precarious due to the ill health of male bear Simon.
 
Having spent his entire life in a cage, Simon was suffering from a litany of issues. His movement was severely restricted, he had open wounds on his back, scarring on his head, damaged feet and potential eye problems.

 

 
Animals Asia founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE said:
 
“My heart broke when I saw the awful condition of these two bears. Simon is a bear you can’t help but fall in love with, but his condition is just pitiful. He can barely stand and his teeth were literally falling out of his head. He’s a broken bear that we have to get back to the sanctuary as quickly as possible. There are no guarantees for an animal in his condition.”
 
With Simon’s survival foremost in mind, the team opted to carefully set a lower anaesthetic dose for a quick health check before loading the bear onto the waiting fishing barge.
 
In contrast to Simon’s lethargy, female bear Sam was alert and agitated. Vets discovered her to be suffering from painful arthritis which will be an ongoing issue for her carers.

 

 
Animals Asia Senior Veterinarian Joost Philippa said:
 
“Sedating large animals without the safety of sanctuary equipment is never straightforward which is why safety concerns caused us to conduct the health checks as quickly as possible.
 
“Despite the speed, we were able to find out quite a lot about the conditions of both bears. Sam’s arthritis is something that may be causing significant pain which we can stop with medication. We quickly removed Simon’s worst teeth which were very loose, which will be more comfortable for him, but his conditions are numerous so we’ll be relieved once he’s safely back at the sanctuary.”
 
Fair weather allowed the team to make it back to Halong Bay before nightfall where a crane winched the bears and their cages off the boat and onto a waiting truck.
 
The team will spend Tuesday night in Halong City and expect to arrive back at Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre late afternoon Wednesday.
 
The rescue of Sam and Simon – nicknamed in memory of Animals Asia supporter Sam Simon who died of cancer earlier this year – marks the first rescue to follow Animals Asia’s successful campaign to Save the Halong Bay Bears.
 
Animals Asia expect to complete the rescue of the remaining 36 captive moon bears in Quang Ninh – making the province bear bile free - by the end of June.

For further information please contact:

Maya Gottfried

Senior PR Manager, Animals Asia

+1 (347) 885-9051

mgottfried@animalsasia.org

USA

Steve Jackson

Head of Communications, Animals Asia

+ (84) 0169 661 4958

 sjackson@animalsasia.org

VIETNAM

Animal welfare set to become key part of China’s vet training

Animal welfare set to become key part of China’s vet training

Animals Asia has welcomed the news that animal welfare looks set to become a key part of China’s veterinary curriculum.

The Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association (CVMA) is working with the Ministry of Education on plans to integrate animal welfare as a compulsory examinable subject in its national examinations. The move has been applauded by China’s animal welfare advocates and activists and is being seen as part of a wider movement within the country to recognise the needs of animals. 

While animal welfare is already taught at many veterinary universities, new plans will see it become institutionalised as a compulsory aspect of the national syllabus. The move will require the training of teaching staff and the production of textbooks on the issue, with materials and expertise on the topic currently in scarce supply. 

Pivotal in the preparatory process will be experts like Professor Fei Rong Mei. 

Recently named one of the top 10 vets in China by the CVMA for her contribution to animal welfare, Professor Fei Rong Mei is also a World Organisation for Animal Health representative and animal welfare lecturer at the Nanjing Agricultural University. 

In 2013, Prof Fei worked with Animals Asia and the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education on an animal welfare and veterinary skills teaching symposium in Nanjing, where she helped update the training of more than 20 teachers from around the country. In the 10 years she’s dedicated to teaching and research on animal welfare and veterinary work, this “super-vet” has pushed animal welfare curriculum training, helped produce the country’s best textbooks on the subject and played a pivotal role in preparing the ground for the upcoming developments. 

 Animals Asia Animal Welfare Director Dave Neale said: 

“It’s the right time for China to make animal welfare an examinable and compulsory subject for vets. The groundwork laid by dedicated professionals like Professor Fei Rong Mei in-country, has done so much to increase well-being and reduce suffering of animals and we very much look forward to supporting Professor Fei and her colleagues in any way we can as they make this important next step. 

“Vets dedicate their lives to animals. If we can ensure animal welfare is part of their training then not only can they better treat animals, they can also continue to share the message of respect for animals day-in-day-out right across China on a massive scale.”

Two moon bears arrive at China sanctuary in time for Christmas

Two moon bears arrive at China sanctuary in time for Christmas

Two young moon bears are set for a very merry, and safe, Christmas in China this year, thanks to the Sichuan Forestry Department, and Animals Asia, the animal welfare organisation that runs the only bear sanctuary in China.

Nicknamed Rudolph and Holly to reflect their Christmas arrival, the two Asiatic black bears (known as “moon bears” due to the yellow crescent shapes on their chest), are estimated to be roughly two years old. Both bears seem to be in good physical condition, with healthy bodies and black shiny fur. Each is estimated to weigh around 70-80kg.
The bears were found as cubs in the wild by villagers in Yibin county, in the south-eastern part of Sichuan Province, nearly two years ago. They took the bears in and cared for them but as the bears got bigger, they could no longer afford the amount of food they needed. It also became more dangerous to keep the bears once they were no longer cubs.

It is believed the villagers were approached by traders who wanted to sell the cubs to the horrific bear bile industry, in which bears are milked regularly for their bile, using various painful, invasive techniques. The bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Sichuan Forestry has confiscated the bears and transferred them to Animals Asia’s sanctuary near Chengdu, also in Sichuan Province. As Sichuan Forestry doesn’t want to encourage people to take in bears from the wild, no compensation was paid to the villagers.

The lucky Christmas bears have been delivered to Animals Asia’s China Bear Rescue Centre after the long journey from Yibin. At the sanctuary they’ll be provided with everything they need to meet their physical and behavioural needs including veterinary care, nutritious food, comfortable dens, environmental enrichment and access to outdoor semi-natural enclosures.

Toby Zhang, China External Affairs Director, Animals Asia, commented:
“It was a great pleasure to work with Sichuan Forestry to co-ordinate the transfer of these lovely young bears into the care of Animals Asia. The logistics of the transfer were handled very well by their team, and we are delighted to receive the bears at our sanctuary.”

Rudolph is male, and so far is much more confident than Holly, who is thought to be female. Due to Holly’s shyness, it has not yet been possible to confirm the sex. For the first few days at the centre, the bears will be kept in transport cages lined with straw and browse. This allows them to be monitored, let them become accustomed to their new surroundings, learn to trust the Animals Asia team, and receive their initial health checks.

Nicola Field, Bear and Vet Team Director at Animals Asia’s China sanctuary, commented:
“The transfer of the bears went super smoothly, and both of them are doing well. Rudolph in particular seems to have a sweet tooth, and both he and Holly have been tucking into melon and strawberry sauce, and also enjoying fruity ice blocks – another bear favourite! They have good appetites and have been enthusiastically tucking into their nutritious food, like the other bears at the sanctuary. They’re getting comfortable having made themselves nests with straw and browse.”

Once they’ve received health checks from the veterinary team, they’ll be moved to dens in the designated quarantine area of the sanctuary for 45 days. After this they’ll be integrated with the other bears, and moved to dens with access to outdoor enclosures.

Jill Robinson MBE, Dr.med.vet. h.c., Founder and CEO, Animals Asia, commented:
“Providing a home for these two bears is the perfect Christmas present for Animals Asia, our supporters around the world, and for the bears themselves. We offer our heartfelt thanks to the Sichuan Forestry Department. We’re looking forward to getting to know our new family members over the coming weeks.”

More than 10,000 bears – mainly moon bears, but also sun bears and brown bears – are kept on bile farms in China, and around 2,400 in Vietnam. This cruel practice continues despite the availability of a large number of effective and affordable herbal and synthetic alternatives.

Most farmed bears are kept in tiny cages. In China, the cages are sometimes so small that the bears are unable to turn around or stand on all fours. Some bears are put into cages as cubs and never released. Bears may be kept caged like this for up to 30 years. Most farmed bears are starved, dehydrated and suffer from multiple diseases and malignant tumours that ultimately kill them.

WSPA Partner provokes Vietnamese crackdown on bear farms

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soggydan/4572169245/

WSPA Partner provokes Vietnamese crackdown on bear farms

The Vietnamese government has announced a crackdown on illegal bear bile tourism, following reports of bile extraction for tourists by WSPA’s local member society, Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV). (Footnotes 1 and 2)

In a communication sent out this week, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism spelled out that tour companies engaged in so-called bear bile tourism risk losing their business licences. The letter was sent out nationwide following ENV’s expose last month of bear owners in the touristic province of Quang Ninh who continue to extract bear bile – much of which is bought by Korean tourists. (Footnote 3)

“This is fantastic news and clearly demonstrates that the government of Vietnam sees the damage bear farming is causing their tourist industry. We urge the authorities to now step up their efforts to ensure an end to the farming of thousands of bears across the country for their bile," said Dave Eastham WSPA Captive Bears Campaign Leader.

According to the Government’s communication, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) requires that: “All the provincial Departments of Sports, Culture and Tourism are to promote awareness raising activities and the responsibilities of businesses in protecting wild animals. They are to seriously implement the recommendations from international communities and national agencies involved in wildlife protection and are to cooperate with the authorities to treat all violations in accordance with the law.”

The VNAT then states that the same departments are “to prohibit all travel companies that organise tours that take tourists to bear farms where bears are illegally kept and bear bile is extracted. For a serious violation, VNAT will consider withdrawing the company’s International Travel Business License”.The document also warns that the bear bile industry “negatively influences the friendly and attractive image of the country and people of Vietnam and also harms the healthy and sustainable content of activities of local tourism”.

Tran Viet Hung, ENV Vice Director from ENV said “Authorities have been aware of illegal bear bile tourism for a long time, but it has taken an article to be published and put into public view for them to take action. We welcome the stern words from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and expect to see prosecutions of the very visible perpetrators of this illegal industry.”

WSPA and ENV, together with NGOs Free the Bears and Animals Asia Foundation, jointly lobby as the Vietnam Bear Task Force to prevent illegal bear bile tourism in Vietnam. Outlawed bear bile is still widely available in the country, where approximately 3,000 bears, almost all stolen from the wild, continue to be kept under terrible conditions in bear ‘farms’, also prohibited by Vietnamese law since 2005.

Bile is regularly extracted from the bears’ gall bladders with a syringe, causing the animals to suffer. Bear bile is used in traditional medicine and as a status symbol. The bears are kept in tiny, barren cages, often with no space to stand or move, for the duration of their lifetime of as long as 20 years. Vietnam is a member of the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Speciesof Wild Flora and Fauna CITES, committing it to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The Asiatic black bear is most commonly used in bile extraction and is listed in the appendix of CITES.

Additionally, under the Vietnamese Government’s Decree 32/2006, bears are listed as an endangered species and owning and selling bears or their by-products is illegal.


World Society for the Protection of Animals

Despite herbal alternatives being available, bear bile continues to be used in some Traditional Asian Medicine (TAM) to treat conditions such as reducing fever, protecting the liver, improvement of eyesight, breaking down gallstones, and as an anti-inflammatory. TAM experts around the world agree that bear bile is completely replaceable. Surveys of global TAM practitioners by WSPA and others have shown that there are more than 50 herbal alternatives to bear bile as a medicine, as well as synthetically-produced alternatives.

Vietnam’s most profitable tourist resort of Ha Long City in north-eastern Quang Ninh Province continuesto be one of the most popular destinations for Korean tourists to witness extractions and purchase bile to illegally transport back to Korea. WSPA hopes this crackdown will signal an end to such businesses.

A short video clip of bear bile extraction on a Vietnamese bear farm is available to view at: http://www.envietnam.org/videos/quang-ninh.html 

1  . The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is the world’s largest alliance of animal welfare organisations, currently representing more than 1000 member societies in over 150 countries. WSPAstrives to create a world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty ends. WSPA brings about change at both grassroots and governmental levels to benefit animals and has consultative status at the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

2. Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) was established in 2000 as Vietnam’s first non-governmentalorganization focused on the conservation of nature and the environment. Its mission is to foster greaterunderstanding amongst the Vietnamese public about environmental issues of local, national and globalsignificance, ranging from the protection of wildlife and natural ecosystems to climate change.

3. ENV’s article is available at https://www.yousendit.com/download/eURDRm82UEN5UkZFQlE9PQ

***

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China Bear Rescue

China Bear Rescue

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33590535@N06/3537429995/

Each time I read stories about the appalling animal cruelty in parts of China I will also read condemnation of the Chinese. This may be in the text of the article or the following comments. This is so wrong. It is pure ignorance to condemn a nation by the actions of a few.

The story below relates to a rescue of bears which are to be taken to the Animals Asia Foundation’s rescue centre at Chengdu. I have been lucky enough to have visited this facility. It must be the best built and most enriched collection I have seen anywhere and the staff amongst the most caring and professional. I wholeheartedly include the local staff here. They are a wonderful dedicated and truly concerned and caring group of people.

The Animals Asia Foundation does truly important work and deserves nothing but praise, not just for the rescue and care but for slowly changing the mindset of that few of a nation.

Watch and read on. It is disturbing.



All film clips are ©Animals Asia

20 Chinese provinces now bear-farm free after Animals Asia’s dramatic rescue

Emergency surgery on truck for bear trapped in bile industry for 30 years. Twenty of China’s 31 provinces are now bear-farm free after Animals Asia Foundation’s dramatic rescue this week of 10 bears from Shandong Province’s last bile farm. The rescue team arrived at our sanctuary in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, early this morning (2am, 23 April) after four gruelling days on the road, and emergency roadside surgery for one
geriatric bear, nicknamed “Oliver”.

Animals Asia’s vet team was forced to perform an emergency cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal) on the back of one of the three rescue trucks, saving the life of this dying bear. Oliver, along with seven other bears trapped on the farm in Weihai, Shandong, had been wearing barbaric metal jackets and bile-milking catheters, long banned by the Chinese authorities. Oliver had spent 15 years on the Shandong farm and another 15 years trapped on other farms.

Animals Asia’s Veterinary Director Heather Bacon said it was unlikely 30-year-old Oliver would have survived the 2,400-kilometre road-trip without the surgery, which relieved his excruciating pain. “Clearly the bile farmers removed the bears’ metal jackets and ripped out their catheters just hours before our arrival to collect them. “In Oliver’s
case, they left a crude flange (spiked metal ring) embedded in his gall bladder to keep the catheter in place,” she said.

The four-hour surgery was performed on the back of the truck carrying Oliver after our rescue convoy was forced to divert from the planned route to the nearest hospital – the Trauma Emergency Hospital in Feng Ling Du Town, Shanxi Province, which kindly provided the team with oxygen, hot-water bottles and towels needed for the operation. “Oliver’s condition was extremely serious and he’s not out of the woods yet, but at least he’s now drinking and eating a little fruit,” Dr Bacon said. “He will need extensive treatment over the coming weeks for a host of other problems, including chronic arthritis, but we’re hopeful this shockingly abused bear will live to enjoy his time in the sun.”

Animals Asia’s Director of External Affairs, China, Toby Zhang, praised the China Wildlife Conservation Association and Shandong’s forestry authorities who worked together with Animals Asia to close the province’s last farm – one of the worst in China – after an appeal from Animals Asia six weeks ago. “With Shandong now on board, only 11 mainland Chinese provinces still have bear farms. A total of 19 provinces have joined our campaign to end bear farming – closing their remaining farms and pledging to root out any hidden farms they might discover in the future,” Mr Zhang said.

“Along with Shanghai, which is also bear-farm free but declined to join our campaign, 20 provinces have now consigned this shameful, unnecessary industry to the history books – almost two-thirds of China. This is real progress for our campaign and gives us renewed hope for these highly endangered bears,” he said.

The rescue took a dramatic turn on Wednesday (21 April) when road works held up the rescue trucks for seven hours. Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson, said Oliver’s condition was rapidly deteriorating, so our staff asked the local police for help. “From that point on, the authorities could not have been more helpful – the traffic police,
Public Security Bureau (PSB) and the hospital all swung into action, with the police opening a closed section of road and escorting us all the way to the hospital and the PSB clearing an area around the truck so we could set up for the surgery. The hospital administrators refused to take any money from us, providing a large oxygen tank and other equipment for free,” Ms Robinson said.

“We also had scores of local people looking on during the surgery, showing genuine concern for Oliver and wishing us well for the rest of the journey. These people previously had no knowledge of how bear bile was obtained and they were shocked to learn how the bears were abused. Many told us they would never use bear bile again,” she said.

Bear bile is used to treat a range of ailments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), even though more than 50 cheap and effective herbal alternatives are readily available. Pathologists and many eminent TCM practitioners have warned against consuming bile – contaminated with pus, urine and faeces – from such chronically ill bears.

Ms Robinson said one of the 10 rescued bears – a massive brown bear nicknamed “Rocky” after one of our long-standing bear workers and because of his stress-induced rocking – had a particularly tragic past. “Rocky killed his keeper in a zoo in northern China. After this, he was ‘sentenced’ to 15 years of torture in the bile industry. Had the zoo been operating under proper safety guidelines – or better still, if this bear had been left in the wild where he belonged – this tragedy would never have happened.”

This rescue brings to 276 the total number of bears rescued from China’s bile industry by Animals Asia – and the 42nd farm closed. The 10 bears – seven females and three males – are a mix of moon bears (Asiatic black bears) and brown bears.

Bear farming is still allowed in China, however no new licences are issued when farms close. Farmers are permitted to use only the newer “free-drip” method of bile extraction, which is just as excruciating and harmful to the health of the bears.

In 2000, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the CWCA and Sichuan Forestry to rescue 500 bears from the worst farms and to work towards ending the industry. To date. With this latest rescue, Animals Asia has saved 276 bears and closed 42 farms in China. We have also rescued 52 bears in Vietnam. Those that survive, live out their lives at our sanctuaries.

For more information, please contact Animals Asia’s:

Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson: + (852) 9095 8405;
jrobinson@animalsasia.org

Director of External Affairs, China, Toby Zhang: + (86) 1388 1963 445;
tzhang@animalsasia.org

Media Manager, Angela Leary: + (852) 2791 2225; Mob: + (852) 9042 7740;
aleary@animalsasia.org

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Safety in Private Chinese Zoos Causes Concerns

Fatal attacks highlight lack of animal welfare in zoos

Chinese experts and wildlife activists are calling for improved animal welfare in zoos after two deadly attacks on keepers by hungry beasts in central Henan Province last month.




On Dec. 31, a zookeeper surnamed Ming was savaged to death by an adult African lion while he was sweeping the cage at the NanhaiPark in Henan's Zhumadian City. Local authorities are investigating the incident.

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiedfw/533993911/

On Dec. 2, keeper Xie Jian, at the Songyang Park in Dengfeng City, was killed by a black bear while feeding the animal. The zoo was ordered to suspend operations and the victim's family was given 120,000 yuan (17,647 U.S. dollars) in compensation.



In both cases, zoo managers blamed human error for the attacks, saying the keepers had not followed usual procedures to drive the animals to neighboring cages to be tightly locked up before entering the first cage.



"That is commonsense for animal keepers. We have offered training, but Ming did not abide by the rules," said Zhao Yanmei, a manager of the Zhumadian zoo.



But relatives of the keepers refused to believe the explanations, saying no proof had been found to demonstrate they had ignored procedures.

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanvernon/3200805454/

Xie had worked for two years and Ming for only four days when they died.



ATTACK OF HUNGER



Leaving aside the controversy over whether proper procedures were followed, police say they believe the two animals were hungry when the attacks happened, which the zoo managers do not deny.



The zoos -- both privately operated -- have been facing financial difficulties and lax supervision.



The Dengfeng zoo, covering about 2,667 square meters, opened in1999. It has black bears, lions and camels among its attractions.



The Zhumadian zoo, covering about 2,000 square meters, opened in 2000 and has 11 large, aggressive animals, including tigers, lions, leopards, black bears and wolves.



"The large animals eat 100 to 150 kg meat a day, and we need to spend 60,000 to 70,000 yuan on them a month, plus medical bills," Zhao said.



"But the whole year's ticket revenue is only 100,000 yuan. A ticket sells for five yuan, and we usually sell no more than 20 a day," she said.



In addition to hunger, the animals' living conditions are poor at the Zhumadian zoo. Two lions crowd into a single cage of about 8 square meters and four tigers live in cages between only 4 and 8 square meters.



The Dengfeng zoo has a poor business record, and its managers have been taken to court by the Songyang Park for contract disputes.



"According to regulations, zoos must receive an annual examination to ensure they are qualified for raising animals. But after the bear attack, investigators found the Dengfeng zoo had not done so for a decade," said an official surnamed Shang, of the Wildlife Protection Department under the Forestry Bureau of Zhengzhou City, which administers Dengfeng.



The forestry authorities were looking into all small zoos in Zhengzhou to see if their operations are up to standard, he said.



TAKEOVER BY GOVERNMENT?



Poor conditions for zoo animals can be found nationwide.



China has more than 200 zoos, according to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. But only the large zoos in a few cities such as Beijing and Shanghai receive government funding and attention.



"Privately-run zoos always face difficulties. Their animals are often living in poor conditions and endure the whippings, and many are thin and weak with disease," said Zhu Ke, an education manager of the Animals Asia Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong.



"Private zoos aim for profits and do not pay enough attention to animal welfare. The attacks on keepers are usually caused by hunger," he said.



He suggested that the number of zoos should be greatly reduced.



"If a zoo is to be opened, whether it's private or government-run, the managers should prepare emergency plans to cope with difficult situations."



Prof. Shi Pu, who specializes in economic management at Henan University of Finance and Economics, said zoos should be funded by the government as a public service and private capital should be prohibited.



"Privately-run zoos usually have a small area and limited number of animals, which prevent them from earning profits in a sustainable way. In addition, lack of human resources, animal resources, capital and management capability always lead to a poor business record," he said.



"I think the government should take over zoos in difficulties, for the

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