Above is part of the cover of an occasional newsletter published by the ‘Animals Asia’ international charity. The principal aim of this charity is to rescue close-caged black bears that otherwise are kept in this state all their lives so that bile can be extracted from their abdomen, this being an ingredient in some traditional Oriental medicines. The charity owns and runs on a day-to-day basis a number of refuges where rescued bears have some chance of being nursed back to some degree of health and where they can gain some quality of life, in as far as their previous treatment will allow. The details of their lives in captivity are sickening. As I understand it, wherever possible, the founder and day-to-day worker for the reserves Jill Robinson negotiates the release of the bears.
This recent newsletter was celebrating a new agreement between Animals Asia and the Vietnamese government which will further outlaw the practice of ‘bile farming’. This despite the fact that on paper ‘bear farming’ was made illegal by the Vietnamese government back in 2005, however, as with much legislation in this country, their were loopholes and exceptions which were exploited by those who were either commercially ruthless or those reluctant to give up traditional activities.
In deed the whole range of ‘traditional Oriental medicines’ is peppered with extracts from wildlife, much of it endangered. We all try to be reasonable individuals but sometimes you just have to side unreservedly with one side or another.
Jill Robinson’s is a life well lived. Animals Asia has a website.