Animals Asia says goodbye to an old friend....

[Guest guest]

Goodbye Andrew

 

Dear Friends,

 

For those of you who have shared our special moments with the bears over the

years, I'm

so sorry to pass on the sad, sad news that we said goodbye to our number one

ambassador, three-legged Andrew, (Anderloo as he is named in Chinese), yesterday

afternoon.

 

Early yesterday morning, following a month of eating less and sleeping more,

Andrew had

a health check and ultrasound which revealed that something was horribly wrong.

Our

Vets, Kati and Phill, began abdominal surgery and found the most aggressive and

ugly

cancer I have ever seen in my life. The removed tumour, weighing 7.3kgs

surpassed

anything we have seen before and, because the liver was so terribly affected

(with

approximately 5% of its normal function remaining), Andrew's blood wasn't able

to clot

and he had been slowly bleeding to death.

 

Even on Wednesday, he ate more than he'd eaten the whole week before; those soft

gentle

lips pursing for another slice of tomato, a second tub of yogurt and a blueberry

muffin,

causing us to wonder for a second whether we were right to bring his surgery

forward. So

many variables are involved - and in the past we have felt surgery essential,

only to find

nothing medically wrong as the bears have entered a " normal " pattern of

lethargic,

inappetant behaviour associated with hibernation of the species in the wild.

 

Yet, it was the killer we know so well... liver cancer; possibly originating

from a tumour

factor of aggressive cells connected with the massive infection from damage

caused on

the farms - the demon that lurked silently in Andrew's body, waiting for the

chance to

strike.

 

No words can ever explain the grief everyone here is feeling - we cremated and

buried our

mighty Andrew at 6pm last evening, with local TV camera's and the San Francisco

Chronicle recording another chapter in bear farming history - an outpouring of

anger and

sadness which is difficult to describe even now, but which united everyone here

in the

conviction and determination that Andrew will never die in vain.

 

I know too that this will be a horribly sad message for those of you who loved

Andrew and

enjoyed all the updates about his life over the past five and a half years.

Andrew was so

much more than our ambassador, our friend.... he was the bear who began it all;

our

noble, forgiving, gentle giant who will live in our hearts forever.

 

Someone wrote today : " You are not weaker without Andrew, you are stronger

because of

him. " And we are.

 

R.I.P. Anderloo, we love you.

 

Jillx

Jill Robinson MBE

Founder & CEO

Animals Asia Foundation