Fw: Animals Asia Foundation Press Release: 24 January 2005

[Guest guest]

-

" Annie Mather " <amather

<Animal Friends:>

Monday, January 24, 2005 2:00 PM

Animals Asia Foundation Press Release: 24 January 2005

 

 

24th January 2005

 

ANIMALS ASIA FOUNDATION'S " CHINA BEAR RESCUE " SEES FREEDOM FOR 46 MORE

FARMED MOON BEARS

 

Forty six farmed Moon Bears in China came closer to taking their first steps

to freedom as the cruel facilities which held them captive for years were

recently closed down. Transported by road on the back of trucks, sick,

stressed and fighting for life in their tiny wire crush cages, the bears

arrived at the Animals Asia China Bear Rescue Sanctuary, where 139 bears

have already seen their lives change beyond all recognition since October

2000. Working in freezing, wet conditions, the team gently and

professionally offloaded 11 bears on Monday 17th January (with the final

bear being lifted off the truck just after midnight), and then repeated the

operation as a further 34 bears were rescued the next day.

 

With one bear arriving earlier in the month from the northern province of

Liaoning, the number of bears now waiting for urgent corrective surgery to

repair years of damage on the farms, is 46 - making a total of 185 bears

rescued since Animals Asia began their historic " China Bear Rescue " just

over four years ago.

 

Despite China's bear farming regulations which allow only the " free-dripping

fistula " method of bile extraction from captive bred bears, these CITES

Appendix I endangered species were clearly victims of catheter, free-drip,

and " fake " free-drip techniques, whilst some were also missing limbs as a

result of being illegally caught in the wild by snares or leg-hold traps.

Milked like machines for their bile fluid (despite the fact that the end

products can easily be replaced by effective herbal and synthetic

substitutes) the fortunate rescued animals represent only a small percentage

of the estimated 7,000 plus bears held on over 200 farms across the country.

 

The Animals Asia team were shocked to witness that many of the bears were

wedged in cages so tightly that they could not turn or move around. All had

injuries and physical problems so severe that the Veterinary team planned

emergency health checks within hours of seeing them in. Hooting pitifully

into the night and beside themselves with fear and pain, cubs, middle aged

and elderly bears presented graphic evidence against the farmers claims that

their new methods of bile extraction are " humane " .

 

 

Conducting 23 emergency health checks within four days, the Animals Asia

Veterinary team, led by Dr. Gail Cochrane, discovered that a new " fake-free

dripping " technique of bile extraction is being tested out on the bears

today. Rather than a fistula - or " hole " in the abdomen which was

previously lauded as a state-of-the-art technique (but which in reality has

been killing the bears in huge numbers), the farmers are now inserting a

clear perspex catheter which is almost impossible to see, unless the abdomen

is shaved and examined close-up.

 

Dr. Cochrane emphasised the team's disgust with what they had found saying:

" Not surprisingly, the free-drip method, which is nothing more than a hole

carved into the abdomen, is responsible for massive infection and pain and a

high mortality rate on the farms. This new fake free-drip method is now

attempting to correct past problems by using a perspex tube (which is

against China's current regulations on bear farming) and which continues to

cause suffering and death for farmed bears. In addition, the farmers

continue to de-claw the bears, cut away their canine teeth and trap them in

the wild - we have weeks, if not months, of work ahead to correct this

abuse. "

 

Animals Asia Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE echoed Dr. Cochrane's

concerns saying: " This practice and every other technique we have studied on

nearly 200 farmed bears over the past four years is part of a barbaric and

unnecessary industry and has no place in veterinary practice or within the

remit of respected Chinese pharmacopoeia. The people who perform and

promote this butchery on living, sentient animals should be ashamed, as

should those who continue to buy and consume the end product once informed

of the humane alternatives. "

 

Earlier in the week Asian superstar, Karen Mok Man Wai, " the Madonna of

Asia " , together with volunteer vet nurses, Chinese journalists and members

of the public were visibly shocked with suffering they had never before

witnessed as the bears arrived - with all committing to join Animals Asia

and help to end bear farming by the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Karen

Mok stated that she also had the backing of other celebrities like Jackie

Chan, and made a public appeal for supporters in China to join her in a

pledge which would " Rescue Black Bears - and end bear bile usage, once and

for all " .

 

Ends....................

 

For further information, please contact:

Jill Robinson MBE - Founder & CEO, Animals Asia Foundation, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2791 2225 or Mobile: (852) 9095 8405 Email:

jrobinson

For stills and film, please contact:

Annie Mather - Executive Director, Head of Media, Animals Asia Foundation,

Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2521 0982 or Mobile: (852) 9425 7429 Email:

amather

Website: www.animalsasia.org

 

 

 

--

Annie Mather

Executive Director, Head of Media

Animals Asia Foundation

Hong Kong

 

ANIMALS ASIA HAS A BRAND NEW WEBSITE!

Find out more about the " China Bear Rescue " and " Friends....or Food? "

http://www.animalsasia.org