Rescue the last captive bear in Hai Duong

On October 16, Animals Asia rescued a bear whose owner in Kinh Mon town, Hai Duong voluntarily wrote a transfer application. This is the last captive bear in Hai Duong province.

Hai Duong Forest Protection Department accompanies and supports all handover procedures and coordinates closely with Animals Asia in bear rescue work. The department completed legal procedures to bring the bear to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center, a newly built facility in Bach Ma National Park, Thua Thien-Hue province.

This bear has been cared for by his family since around 2003 for commercial purposes in a private farm model. The bear is fitted with an examining chip, and officers from the Hai Duong Forest Protection Department periodically come down to check its condition in accordance with current regulations.

Although the age of a bear in the wild is from 30 to 35 years old, up to now, the bear has lived in captivity for more than 20 years. The bears are raised in a well-ventilated garden, next to a small water lily pond in the house. Animals Asia performed rescues using anaesthesia and on-site clinical health examinations for the bear. 

The rescue team decided to name the bear Apollo, inspired by the name of a historically significant NASA program more than 50 years ago, where humans first set foot on the moon. The two astronauts who took these first steps, Armstrong and Buzz, are also the names of the first two bears to arrive at the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center in Hue.

Similar to Apollo's mission to send astronauts to the moon and return home safely, the organization also wants to be able to bring all bears to safe homes - where bears can live happily, leaving behind painful memories on farms.

Before the rescue day, Animals Asia will guide the family on the necessary care conditions, so that the bear responds to anesthesia in the safest way possible. Apollo the bear weighs about 120 kg. Doctors proceeded to take blood and fur samples to facilitate the testing process. Currently, veterinarians have not detected any unusual signs that seriously affect the bear's health.

Later in the morning of the same day, the rescue team set out to travel nearly 800 km from Kinh Mon, Hai Duong to Bach Ma National Park. Every 2-3 hours on the road, caring staff will check, and give water, and banana leaves to feed the bear to ensure its good health condition. It is expected that the group will return to Bach Ma National Park in the afternoon of October 17.

In 2020, the entire Hai Duong province recorded 7 bears being kept in private ranches. Up to now, thanks to effective advocacy work, the participation of relevant professional parties and the enthusiasm of bear owners to bring a better life to bears, Hai Duong officially ended bear farming.

Besides bear rescue work, in recent years, Animals Asia and Hai Duong Provincial Forest Protection Department have also coordinated in Animal welfare intervention work with monkeys at Nham Duong Pagoda, Hai Duong.

Animals Asia was founded by Dr. Jill Robinson MBE in 1998 and it started rescuing bears rescuing activities in Vietnam in 2006. To date, the Organization has rescued and cared for 268 individuals of Asian black bears and sun bears in Vietnam. The bear rescued in Hai Duong will be one of the first three bears brought to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center at Bach Ma National Park, Thua Thien Hue province.

The new Vietnam Bear Rescue Center has completed construction of phase 1 with facilities, a hospital, a temporary quarantine area and 2 bear houses for four semi-natural areas. The organization is launching a worldwide fundraising campaign, with the slogan #Nobearleftbehind – Not leaving a single bear behind for the goal of rescuing all bears in captive farms in Vietnam.

On October 2, Animals Asia and the Hanoi Forest Protection Department rescued all 2 bears from a household in Phung Thuong commune, Phuc Tho district, Hanoi. This household voluntarily wrote the transfer application and did not request any funding from the State or other units.