This has been a busy weekend away from the China sanctuary for our General Manager (and chief government negotiator) Toby, and me. We flew to Beijing to meet urgently with our central government partners, the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), a department directly under the State Forestry Administration.
The health checks continue and our fears mount that we may have to say goodbye to even more of the 28 bears that came home to us on Monday night. It's difficult to put into words how we're all feeling, but I guess I don't have to. I'm sure you already know.
Today we buried three more bears – Qiang Sheng (Strong Life), Le Le (Happy) and Chengdu Truth.
Thursday started with another post-mortem of the bear we had so hoped would survive. Named Qiang Sheng (strong life) by Madam Xiong Beirong, head of the Wildlife Protection Department of Sichuan Forestry (pictured here at Qiang Sheng's initial health check), this beautiful bear’s auspicious name, tragically, wasn’t enough to get him through.
Hours later, we were health-checking Lotus, whom we’d also called “Chengdu Truth” in Chinese. There are no words to describe our boiling rage at witnessing this skeleton sitting in a cage with a body so wasted that he couldn’t even lift his head.
This is more than we can stand....two more bears have succumbed to liver cancer – leaving our team to pick up the pieces and end the lives of animals who deserved so much more. Many walls have been kicked in frustration since the bears arrived late on Monday night. It is only Wednesday and already four bears are lying in grassy mounds by the river, finally at peace.
Our clever techies in the Hong Kong office have been busy today uploading some footage of the rescue.
Just a quick note to let you know how deeply touched I am by all your beautiful messages of support. As you can imagine, the past few days have been absolutely devastating for all of us here in Chengdu and just knowing that you are with us in spirit means so, so much. Thank you…
Late this morning (Wednesday), Watermelon stretched his hind legs and tried to stand! He didn’t quite make it, but he tried!
After the heartache of “Peace”, we so much wanted to have some good news to lift everyone’s hearts here in Chengdu. Obviously it wasn’t meant to be. With so many sick and injured bears, we knew that our prioritisation of these poor creatures was imperative in order to bring the suffering of the worst to an end. Depressingly, we knew too that, by doing this job well, we would of course be ending our day with yet another post mortem.
Jill founded Animals Asia in 1998, after an encounter with a caged bear on a farm in China changed her life forever. She now heads a team of over 300 enthusiastic staff and divides her time between our bear rescue centres in China and Vietnam and our Hong Kong head office. She travels extensively to participate in conferences and speak at fundraising events.
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