Things are gradually getting back to normal at the sanctuary, with most of the foreign staff who were evacuated on Tuesday returning this weekend. This is despite the fact that the embassies are still issuing warnings to their citizens and advising them to stay away. Because of this, we are having to issue disclaimers to the returning staff.

Some of the bears workers are also insisting on coming back tomorrow. It just makes me so proud to have a team like this here in Chengdu.

It’s easy to praise and thank the people on the frontline - but we never forget our team as a whole. Their dedication and determination to keep this complicated machine oiled and efficient as possible can often go unnoticed, but is no less important to the smooth running of our work. 

Staff in all country offices – finance, technical, administration, legal, creative, campaigns, projects, marketing and PR are working no less hours and rise to every single challenge thrown at them with good humour.

Please forgive us if we’re lax in responding to your emails - our team is drowning in the writing this entails and we do try to answer the most-asked questions on the blog. Excuse the pun, but please bear with us as we scramble a little in these sad and desperate times. Life will hopefully become normal again - at least for us - in a few months time. How heartbreaking to know that for millions of people here in a beautiful part of China, life will never be the same again.