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Rescue Center for Bears Opens in Vietnam
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ANCHOR:
The first bear rescue center opens in Vietnam to save the animals from traffickers seeking to sell bear bile for traditional medicine.
STORY:
Not far away from the capital of Hanoi, a new home is opening for more than 100 bears in Vietnam.
It is Vietnam's first refuge for bears rescued from abusive traffickers
of bile, used in traditional medicines.
[Tuan Bendixsen, Animals Asia Foundation]:
"The bears are hunted mainly for the bear bile trade. At the moment in Vietnam we have over 4,000 bears on bear farms. And although it is against the law to extract bear bile, it is against the law to advertise bear bile, even trading in any bear products. But of course it is still going on, and that's why the bears are in danger."
Thousands of "Moon Bears" are suffering throughout the country on
illegal bear farms.
The farmers use ultrasound machines, catheters and medicinal pumps to
extract bile from the bear.
In the wild, bears live for up to 30 years, however, bears on the farms
live for only five to 10 years before dying of infection, disease and
malnutrition.
The Animals Asia Foundation has been investigating bear farming in
Vietnam since 1998 and funds the bear rescue center.
[Jill Robinson, Founder, Animals Asia Foundation]:
"It really just reaches across to people I think, acknowledging that we should be protecting bears for their own sake rather than how they can be benefiting humankind."
The new center plays a role in trying to influence a cultural change in the Southeast Asian country, where wild animals are hunted and animal parts are still widely used in traditional medicines.
[Do Dinh Tien, Tam Dao National Park Director]:
"This is a kind of model to educate the people so that they will not illegally abuse wildlife, cut down more trees and hunt like what they are doing now."
With the opening of the first rescue center, the Animals Asia Foundation aims to help end bear farming in Vietnam and provide a natural habitat for the endangered species of bears.
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