AAF Press Release - Alibaba

[Guest guest]

MEDIA RELEASE

 

14 May 2010

 

Animals Asia says trade portal's ban benefits bears, cats and dogs

 

Animals Asia Foundation has welcomed a decision by Alibaba.com Limited,

which runs the world's largest online business-to-business e-commerce site,

to ban rs from listing bear bile products, as well as the fur and

meat of cats and dogs.

 

The ban applies to users of Alibaba.com (which has an international site in

English and a Chinese site in Putonghua) and its separate sister operation,

Taobao.com (a Chinese-language consumer e-commerce site that operates almost

exclusively within China).

 

Animals Asia Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson, who has campaigned against the

cruel bear bile industry since visiting a bear farm in China in 1993, said

Alibaba.com's decision could have profound implications, not only for bears,

dogs and cats, but for the welfare of all animals. " We cannot thank

Alibaba.com enough for taking this step, particularly as it was they who

came to us with their decision to ban bear bile, after we'd approached them

about cat and dog products. "

 

" In fact, we've named one of our newly rescued bears 'Alibaba' in

appreciation of all they're doing to end this terrible industry and to mark

the significance of the ban. We now hope that other online traders will

follow Alibaba.com's lead. "

 

Ms Robinson said Animals Asia would be asking its supporters to help monitor

Alibaba.com and Taobao.com as she realised it was impossible for the online

portal's staff to catch every new listing. " The people at Alibaba have been

wonderful. They took the initiative in this and invited us to their AGM in

Shenzhen today (14 May) where they announced the bear bile ban. " This is a

major international group that was founded in China - that's what makes this

so exciting. "

 

Animals Asia rescued " Alibaba " , along with nine other bears, from a bile

farm in Shandong Province last month, driving 2,400 kilometres west across

China to bring the bears to our sanctuary in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

" Alibaba " , estimated to be around five years' old, was kept in a small cage

for years and regularly milked for his bile for the traditional medicine

trade. He has chronic dental problems, scarring on his forehead from

frustrated bar-rubbing, and his damaged gall bladder (from which his bile

was milked through a filthy catheter that exited from his belly) will be

removed by Animals Asia's vet team next week.

 

Ms Robinson said during the AGM that the company's decision to ban not only

bear bile, but dog and cat meat and fur, too was inspirational and Animals

Asia was truly grateful on behalf of millions of people in China and across

the world. She said the room broke into applause when she told the audience

that Alibaba had taken made the additional decision to ban dog and cat

products too.

 

Ms Robinson said Alibaba Limited CEO David Wei, had been inspirational at

the meeting. " He told hundreds of shareholders that he felt he had a

corporate duty to help save the bears, otherwise his son may see moon bears,

but his grandson might only see them in pictures and documentaries, " Ms

Robinson said.

 

*More from David Wei's speech at the 14 May AGM (translated from

Putonghua):*

 

" Last year, we felt we should help the sharks. Even though legally, this is

in a grey area, once we learned how the fins were obtained and how the

sharks were treated, we knew this went beyond legality. It is with the same

view that we want to help the bears. Just as the diversity of the oceans is

being lost, so too are the bears disappearing; they are being 'milked' away.

 

 

Bears are considered unlucky in the financial markets, but we don't think

they are. For every bear that's rescued from a farm, a negative is turned

into a positive. "

 

Animals Asia's Moon Bear Rescue:

Officially, there are just over 7,000 bears on bile farms in China, but

Animals Asia fears the figure could be higher than 10,000. Bear farming is

still legal in China, however no new licences are issued when farms close.

In 2000, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the China Wildlife

Conservation Association and Sichuan Forestry to rescue 500 bears from the

worst farms and to work towards ending the industry. To date, Animals Asia

has rescued 276 bears from farms in China and 54 bears in Vietnam, where we

have a similar agreement with the government. The bears that survive are

rehabilitated and live out their lives at our sanctuaries.

 

For more information, please contact Animals Asia's:

 

Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson: + (852) 9095 8405; jrobinson

 

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

aleary

 

For high-resolution photos of " Alibaba " the bear and photos or footage of

his rescue, please contact Angela.