FW: Animals Asia's latest rescue

[Guest guest]

 

Jill Robinson [jrobinson]

Friday, April 23, 2010 1:34 PM

 

MEDIA RELEASE

 

PLEASE NOTE: MORE PHOTOS AND CLIPS WILL BE UPLOADED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

 

23 April 2010

 

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

of External Affairs, China, Toby Zhang: + (86) 1388 1963 445;

tzhang;

 

Media Manager, Angela Leary: + (852) 2791 2225; Mob: + (852) 9042 7740;

aleary

 

Download photos and short film clips of the rescue here:

http://113.28.4.109:8080/aaffiles/index.php?action=list & dir=ShandongRescue_April\

2010 & order=name & srt=yes

 

 

Note: All photos at this link are C Animals Asia or C Animals Asia/Ali Bullock.

All film clips are C Animals Asia.