Across Asia, over 12 000 bears are held in inhumane cages on farms. These animals are exploited for their bile, a common ingredient in traditional medicine and cosmetic products. Malnourished and abused in the extraction process, once a bear is no longer producing healthy bile, they are often left to starve to death in their cages. To rescue and rehabilitate bears that were once held captive, Jill Robinson founded Animals Asia.
“We have to do things differently now,” she says. Robinson started Animals Asia in 1998 after she had her first encounter with a caged bear from a bile farm. The bile from the Asian black bear is heavily sought after, as well as sun bears and brown bears. Frequently kept in cages that are too small for their bodies, bears are rescued from captivity by Animals Asia and moved to sanctuaries based in Chengdu, China, and Tam Dao, Vietnam. After a period of quarantine, they are released into open enclosures where they can begin living a more natural life.
Robinson and her team take in bears in any condition in the hopes of rehabilitating them, and have saved over 630 bears to date. The organisation also runs public awareness campaigns, and works with government authorities to advocate for a ban on bile trade and extraction. An agreement has been signed with the Vietnamese government that aims to eradicate bear bile farming in the coming years. “Countries are beginning to turn around previous practices,” Robinson says. Giving bears the space to flourish and treating them with respect, the spark is returning to their eyes. “Just to see their forgiveness of the human species is remarkable,” Robinson says.
Footage by Animals Asia Foundation was used in the creation of this film.
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