First day at Animals Asia Sanctuary

I was fortunate enough to witness a health check on Smart, a bear who is thought to be in her late teens and has been in the sanctuary for seven years. She has lost 40kg, is sleeping a lot and suffering severe hair loss. Heather, the head of today’s veterinary team, says that they fear she could be in the early stages of cancer. The blood tests will hopefully shed some light. In the meantime, Heather has to remove eight teeth which are in various stages of rot and disintegration.

'Smart' gets her health check and dental procedure

This poor bear has spent many years biting on the bars of her bear bile cage in pain and frustration. As a result, teeth are broken, infected and decayed.

Three hours later, her operation is completed. The blood tests come back showing her bloods are at the top end of normal for her liver and worst-case scenario is that this could indicate the beginning of a fatal liver cancer, which claims more than 40% of the bears rescued by AAF. The vet team will be keeping a watchful eye on Smart and do further blood tests in two to three months to see if things have progressed.

To have the opportunity to touch and stroke this glorious girl, to rub her back and massage her paws was something I’ll never forget.

'Smart' gets a paw massage from Liane

I then took a tour of the sanctuary with Rainbow and it is an impressive operation with 150 staff and 170 bears over 25 acres of enclosures. It was incredible to see all these bears, lolling around on hammocks, playing with each other, taking a dip in the pool and just being able to be bears.

Having a dip in the pool

Their memories of the hell and torture they have been through is hopefully fading into a nightmarish past. It is unbelievable that they can trust again, the species who have imprisoned and tortured them their entire lives. But they do. Several bears showed great curiosity at my presence and came over to say hello.

A curious resident ambles over to say hello

A visit to the graveyard was next, where over 90 bears are buried, all marked with little wooden crosses and a stone bearing their name and date of death… of course no one knows when they were born. "Andrew” the first bear to be rescued takes pride of place with a specially inscribed stone.

"Andrew/Anderloo – we are not weaker without you but stronger because of you.”

Another sobering sight was a pile of crush cages that bears brought to the sanctuary have arrived in – a ghastly reminder of their hideous pasts. These cages are not big enough to put your cat in let alone a fully grown bear.

Crush cages - previous 'homes' for the Sanctuary residents

One of the sanctury’s oldest residents, Franzi, somehow survived 22 years in an even smaller cage (see photo) that stunted her growth and permanently deformed her spine. She now is 30 years old and lives peacefully with Rupert – an adorable brain-damaged bear.

Franzi's prison for 22 years

Tomorrow we look forward to being present at breakfast time when the bears are released from their overnight dens for breakfast and another day in the sun.

Play time

Flying in to Chengdu

I actually met Jill Robinson on the flight from Hong Kong to Chengdu so that was a great co-incidence. She started telling me about some of the 170 bears at the sanctury - the blind ones and the brain damaged ones - and as we were standing in the aisle I got all teary - so at least she knows what she's going to be dealing with.

But as she said, "You are not in an exclusive club. We all cry all the time and those bears deserve every one of our tears." ... so I won't be alone tomorrow.

Liane

I arrive at the Animals Asia Foundation sanctury in Chengdu on 1st July. Can't wait to meet Assisi and his friends as well as the wonderful woman who is AAF's founder and responsible for the rescue of many bear bile farm bears - Jill Robinson.

The upcoming trip

Liane will present the cheque from donors to Animals Asia founder Jill Robinson, spend time with 'Assisi' and report back in Animals' Voice magazine on her adventure.

"I feel so honoured to have been selected to make this trip and to do anything possible to help the bears," she says. "I would like to do a video blog for the [Auckland] SPCA website while I'm in Chengdu."

The mission ...

Animals’ Voice readers have demonstrated – once again – that, when it comes to animals in need, they are incredibly generous. In a final tally, our Animals’ Voice Assisi Bear Campaign has topped $28,500 – enough to rescue a Chinese bile bear and meet the costs of its care into the future.

As well, we are going to send an “Assisi Ambassador” to Chinato welcome our Assisi bear to the Animals’ Asia sanctuary for bile bears in Chengdu.

Auckland SPCA Executive Director Bob Kerridge is delighted by the response to the campaign which was launched in Animals’ Voice summer 2007-08 issue.

“Our readers have far surpassed our greatest expectations with their boundless generosity,” he says.“To think that this campaign was focused on Animals’ Voice readers only and achieved such a stunning result is a magnificent display of sympathy for the bears in China.