It has been a busy weekend, but the fate of these two Moon bears trapped in their cages for nine years over water for the entertainment of a restaurant came to light on Facebook via Peter Yuen, a photographer, last week, and who became part of the rescue. When they were transferred to solid floors they were unsure of themselves, but seem to be settling into their new life. When you look at history, bears seem to have had a particularly bad time of it, is it their slow ponderous movement, slightly like us humans, made them ideal for chaining, then performing and fighting to keep the masses happy in medieval times, how can we treat animals so? Bile farming is another horror, locked in these sort of cages for a lifetime, they become ill with the cruel extraction of bile. Slowly it is changing, a realisation that such cruelty cannot be continued, with companies in China acknowledging they will no longer buy the bile extract. All to the good, I am sure Peter Yuen will not mind me using his photos to highlight some of the work that goes on in rescuing bears. Jill Robinson through
Animals Asia is best known for her work in Vietnam and China with the bears.
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| Being rescued, the bears are very docile |
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| Happy Moon bear |
Bears become neurotic enough in cages and even enclosures that are too small, but a cage without even a real floor sounds like a deliberate torture device -- horrible.
ReplyDeleteMostly I see rescued bears settling down happily in their sanctuaries, and also news that shows a steady turning away from extraction of bile. But it is a long haul, and as Weaver of grass says, these poor creatures are still used for entertainment in other countries.
DeleteMany years ago I remember looking out of my hotel window in Istanbul early in the morning and seeing a man walking past with two bears in chains. The image stayed with me. Man can be so cruel to animals.
ReplyDeleteIt is the callous indifference to the suffering of animals. I know the West thinks differently towards animals, (adding a rider - mostly) and whilst I try not to be sentimental when I highlight the horrors that exist in other countries, keeping a bear in a cage for all its life is particularly cruel.
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