(CN) Forward from AAF

[Guest guest]

Hi Everybody,

We are getting a great response to this article in the Queensland

Sunday Mail.

Best wishes,

Annie.

 

http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,15505805

%255E2765,00.html

 

 

Short brutal life of a bear called Fourex

ELISSA LAWRENCE

05jun05

 

WITH her front paw crushed and infected, jaw broken, back paw

partially missing and hideous internal infections, saving Fourex the

Bear was always going to be an uphill battle.

 

Australian animal liberationists this year rescued the young female

moon bear from a life of unbelievable cruelty and torture on a

Chinese bear bile farm.

 

Sadly, Fourex, who was sponsored and named by a group of Queensland

volunteers, did not survive because her injuries were too severe.

 

Fourex was among 46 bears rescued and taken to a sanctuary operated

by Animals Asia, a Hong Kong based charity.

 

The group says it has saved 185 bears since 2000 but there are still

an estimated 7000 more trapped on Chinese farms.

 

Moon bears, or Asiatic black bears, have been killed for their bile

in China for thousands of years, but over the past 20 years several

countries including China, South Korea and Vietnam have developed

methods of extracting the bile from living bears.

 

The bile, used in traditional medicine, is extracted by crude,

insanitary surgery by implanting metal catheters into their abdomen.

 

In another method a permanent hole is opened into their gall bladder.

 

The bears are " milked " up to four times a day by poking a metal

instrument into the hole allowing the bile to flow out.

 

The hole often becomes infected and bile leaks into the abdomen,

causing an agonising death.

 

The bears are confined in cages often barely big enough to contain

them, unable to stand or turn around. Some are caged for up to 20

years.

 

Many bears have their teeth and claws removed to make them easier to

handle.

 

Animals Asia director Anne Lloyd-Jones said the group hoped the

Chinese Government would shut down bile farms before the Beijing

Olympics in 2008.

 

" There are so many types of animal cruelty in the world, but the most

disturbing thing about bear bile farming is that it is prolonged

mental and physical torture that bears have to endure for up to 20

years, " she said.

 

" It really is an horrendous practice. The animals don't get proper

veterinary treatment, they don't get fed properly.

 

" They are kept in tiny cages and are never let out, not even for a

moment. They are in some pretty horrendous conditions.

 

" There is a very high mortality rate for bears on the farms. Out of

the bears we have saved, we have lost 30 because of the conditions

they were in. "

 

*To donate or sponsor a bear visit www.animalsasia.org or phone

1800 666 004.

 

--

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