There she was – Harriet Tung (wife of shipping magnate Tung Chee Chen and sister-in-law of Hong Kong’s first Chief Executive, Tung Chee Hwa) standing in front of our gorgeous Andrew statue in Chengdu last week and talking to the Chinese media about the travesty of bear farming.

I was so proud as she compared the plight of the moon bears with another, perhaps more well-known, flagship species of bear in China – the panda. Pandas are beautiful animals that are treated with such reverence and respect, while equally beautiful moon bears are treated so cruelly and dismissively on the farms. 

Harriet generously handed General Manager Toby and me a cheque as her contribution towards the health-checks and surgeries our new bears will need when the next group arrives early next year, and towards the ongoing research into contaminants in their bile.

She looked at the disease-ridden livers we had removed from bears we had loved and lost and spoke knowledgeably to the media about how and why bear farming is so brutal and unnecessary today. 

I do so hope that Harriet’s words will connect with people widely across the country and cause them to reflect on why the pandas have it so good, while moon bears in the same province lay suffering in silence.