Asia's largest bear rescue centre saves 100 animals in China

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_443783,00040003.htm

 

Asia's largest bear rescue centre saves 100 animals in China

Indo-Asian News Service

Chengdu, November 3

 

Asia's largest black bear rescue centre in China has

saved over 100 black

bears from bear farming, Xinhua reports quoting Jill

Robinson, founder of

Animals Asia Foundation (AAF).

 

The rescue centre in Sichuan province, financed by AAF,

has been

cooperating with local governments to work for the

future elimination of

bear farming in the country and the promotion of herbal

alternatives to

bear bile.

 

Bear bile has been used in traditional Chinese

medicines for over 3,000

years and some impoverished farmers raise bears for

their bile.

 

The centre was built in December last year in Chengdu

city, capital of

Sichuan province, and can accommodate 150 bears in an

area of some

11 hectares.

 

After careful medical treatment, the rescued bears

recovered and were

living in the centre.

 

In 2000, the AAF, the China Wildlife Conservation

Association and the

Sichuan provincial forestry department launched a

campaign to save

black bears.

 

The campaign aims to rescue 500 black bears from bear

farms within five

years in Sichuan province and promote the action across

the nation in 10

years to ultimately eliminate bear farming, Robinson

said.

 

China's bear farms have been reduced to 30 from the

original 100, with

the number of bears in farms cut to less than 2,000

from about 3,000

when the campaign started, said Chen Runsheng,

secretary-general of

China Wildlife Conservation Association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

Dave Neale

Animals Asia Foundation

 

Find out more about the historic China Bear Rescue by visiting the

Animals Asia Foundation website at http://www.animalsasia.org