Proudly Sponsors
Financial Freedom Institute (FFI) proudly sponsors Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) & the China Bear Rescue, which is undertaking the direct rescue of 500 previously farmed bears from the cruel bile farms in China. The 2 bears rescued earlier in 2004 from Tianjin, have made steady progress and with expert surgery to repair their many dreadful injuries and lots of tender loving care to heal their emotional wounds. The bears have now put their horrifying past behind them and are fully embracing a new future of freedom. Currently, AAF have 112 bears at the Rescue Centre in Chengdu and are confidently building more den and rehabilitation areas in preparation for the arrivals of injured bears.
In January 2005, 45 new bears will be transported to the Animal Rescue Centre and will once more enjoy the freedom and nurturing environment offered by the dedicated team. As news spreads through the Chinese media about our mission and the cruelty of bear farming, AAF & FFI are both heartened by an outpouring of support from the Chinese people. AAF have begun wide distribution of Traditional Chinese Medicine packs to doctors and students at top universities across China, which stress the availability of herbal and synthetic replacements to animal parts – and this stresses the important fact that no-one will die for the lack of bear bile in China.
FFI & AAF will continue to place emphasis on the education and greater understanding throughout the global arena. AAF have completed a series of Educational Classroom Events and are holding public Open Days. Big groups of Chinese school children regularly visit the sanctuary and walk away with a renewed respect for animals through meeting our beloved Moon Bears and realising that they have the power to hasten the end of bear farming by simply refusing to use bear bile. FFI continues to sponsor and reinforce the message of the China Bear Rescue throughout Australasia so that more bears like Freedom, Caesar, Podge and Prince can enjoy their freedom. With greater understanding through education and awareness programs, AAF’s & FFI’s mutual objective of bringing bear farming to an end by the 2008 Beijing Olympics can be accomplished.
In 1993, AAF’s Founder Jill Robinson, discovered bears existing in intolerable conditions on a farm in China. Images of these beautiful bears were projected around the world by international print and television media. Dirty infected catheters could clearly be seen protruding from the bears' abdomens, through which bile was being extracted for use in Traditional Medicine. Medicine that Jill later discovered is completely replaceable by cheaper herbs and synthetics.
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Here, in Jill's own words, is the story of how the China Bear Rescue began:
"Sometimes we receive a message in life which is hard to ignore. For me, that message came in 1993 when I walked onto a bear farm in China for the very first time. Nothing prepared me for that moment and it was with utter disbelief that I witnessed a scene which would subsequently change my life and which would start the dream of the China Bear Rescue.
Bear farming was virtually unknown in the West and it was only when I heard rumours of a bear farm operation across the border in southern China, that I joined a tour group from Hong Kong to witness the practice at first hand.
While the bear farmer and his wife proudly demonstrated their bile preparations, I stole away from the group and found some stairs leading to a room below. As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, it was as if a horror story was unfolding itself frame by frame. Row after row of tiny wire cages held living, breathing bears as prisoners - bears, I was later to discover, which had spent 13 years of their life behind bars. Resembling victims of medieval torture, these pitiful animals turned around to reveal infected, gaping wounds in their stomachs, from which protruded rusting, metal catheters.
At one point I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and turned around to see a female moon bear reaching out through the cage. Without thinking, I took her paw and, whilst gazing into sad, dark, unblinking eyes, made a pledge that one day I'd be back to set her free.” |
Jill began tireless work in China, resolutely building relationships and negotiating with government departments to bring an end to this cruel practice.
In 1995, the Guangdong Ministry of Forestry Department closed down the original farm which Jill had exposed and handed the bears to Jill. Through 1997 and 1998, intensive negotiations progressed with the Chinese authorities and she continued to promote the herbal alternatives for bear bile in Traditional Medicine.
In 1999, AAF investigators accepted an invitation from Chinese authorities in Beijing to accompany them to 11 Bear Farms in Sichuan Province. Negotiations commenced in relation to a new bear farming agreement and a major bear rescue.
In July 2000, Animals Asia signed a landmark agreement with the Chinese Authorities to rescue 500 suffering Moon Bears in Sichuan Province, to work towards the future elimination of bear farming in China and to promote the herbal alternatives to bear bile. This historic agreement was the first accord between the Chinese Government and any outside animal welfare organization. All of Jill’s hard work had paid off!
Bears arrive at Rescue Centre
Since October 2000, over 39 bear farms have been closed down by the Government and 138 bears released into the care of Animals Asia at the Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Sichuan (the bears are known as Moon Bears because of the yellow crescent of fur on their chests). The bears arrive in the most shocking condition - bone thin, desperately ill and terrified, but with tender loving care and intensive veterinary attention the vast majority of them recover.
The rehabilitation of the bears takes many months. Sadly, they cannot be released into the wild, many are defenceless and disabled, bred in captivity or snared in the wild as cubs and do not have the necessary survival skills. Thus Animals Asia is constructing a permanent sanctuary, in the midst of a beautiful bamboo forest where these bears can live their lives free of pain and fear. The sanctuary and its accompanying Education Village are keystones to AAF’s work of change through education. Already the China Bear Rescue is advancing the concept of animal welfare within China on a grand scale.
AAF’s & FFI’s goal is to end bear farming by the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and for the 7000 bears on more than 200 farms across China to be released from their metal coffins and for every one of them to feel the sun on their backs and the grass under their paws. You can help them achieve this goal by:
- Logging onto www.animalsasia.org to find out more about the work of Animals Asia Foundation and download sample letters and petitions.
- Making a donation via the website, by calling 1800 666 004 or
- sending a cheque/money order to AAF at PO Box 275, Blackwood SA 5051.
Helping AAF & FFI raise much needed “honey money” for the bears by joining a fundraising Support Group. A list of Group Coordinators and contact details are available on the AAF website or by calling 1800 666 004.
“Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world.. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”. Margaret Mead
Click here to donate.
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