Chendu & Woolong

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the Giant Panda breeding research base in Chengdu. If it is to hot outside the panda's stay in their panda house otherwise they spend time in outdoor enclosures.  Breeding efforts have been successful but unfortunately to date none of the pandas bred at the base has been successfully introduced into the wild.  Efforts are being made to develope a program to solve the problem. In the Woolong reserve we had the opportunity to interact with the baby pandas. When they weren't eating or sleeping they were quite rambuctous. Dr. Ricci was tackled and pushed into their wading pool by a group of five.  He enjoyed it as much as they did. Sterile surgical gowns, gloves, and foot covering was required to protect the babies. The research staff prepares special "panda bread" for the bears. In addition to plently of bamboo they also receive a daily snack of apples and a bowl of milk.  Also pictured is a photo of a red panda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MOON BEAR RESCUE CENTER

 

 

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The Moon Bears above were rescued from the practice of "bear farming". This process involves placing a bear cub in a tiny steel cage and inserting a permanent tube into it's gall badder.The bear will spend it's life in a small box.The bile is collected over the life of the bear for use in herbal remedies. The bear is never allowed to walk or move freely and as it grows, confined by the cage, it becomes malformed and diseased.  Learning about this practice was shocking. Visiting the center can move you to tears.

This spring, on March 31 2008, 28 more moon bears arrived at AAF's Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu, bringing to 247 the total number of bears saved from lives of torture on cruel bile farms in China. But already, 11 are dead, the victims of a barbaric industry.Each was riddled with chronic, liver cancer, as well as a litany of other agonising ailments. All were in impossibly small cages, all skeletal, wounded in various ways, and terrified of what would happen in this next stage of their lives. Some are blind, some have shattered teeth and grotesquely ulcerated gums, some have shocking necrotic wounds their flesh literally rotting down to the bone. Most arrived with open wounds in their abdomens from the free-drip method of bile extraction, with some leaking bile, blood and pus. The number of bears in such an atrocious condition was unprecedented.

This latest rescue brings to 247 the total number of bears Animals Asia has saved from lives of torture on bile farms in China.

The bears that have been rescued live a happy life. After much corrective surgery and physical rehabilitation some adult bears take their first hestitant steps. Some are blind, some are missing limbs but they play happily in the swimming pool. They enjoy large clean open play areas,the company of each other, and treats of apples and honey. Some show repetitive nervous behaviors and never will be mentally well despite the kindness they now receive. These fragile bears are housed seperately.

More than 7,000 bears are still trapped in farms throughout China.
http://www.animalsasia.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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