It was lovely recently to have on site at our Tam Dao sanctuary Jeremy Higgs, who has helped our Vietnam operations so much over the past few years. Here are a few pics of the day (with Tuan, our Vietnam Director, and vet Kirsty).

Jeremy manages Hong Kong-based Green Dragon Fund, run by Environmental Investment Services Asia Limited (EISAL), which helped so generously towards the construction cost of a new bear house and enclosures on site. The bear house contains 24 dens and can house up to 38 bears at a time. The semi-natural enclosures are specially designed to stimulate the bears’ natural behaviour in the wild - but, much much more, to give these bears the real taste of freedom (and fun) that they never experienced on the farms.

Not only that….. Green Dragon Fund is also providing our Vietnam sanctuary with recycled water, as they have generously supported our environmentally friendly wastewater treatment system. I know how passionately Jeremy feels about clean water - the lifeblood of the earth, and now he's pioneering a technique that keeps the sanctuary and surrounding area clean too.

Their kindness could not have been more timely. With our bear numbers steadily increasing in Vietnam, we were in urgent need of more space to house our new arrivals, and show the authorities and community how much we care about the environment too.

We had a fabulous day, but somehow I think the highlight of Jeremy's visit was being introduced to his own very special bear - our beautiful little cub - Tieu Long - which means Little Dragon

Thank you again Jeremy and all in Green Dragon and EISAL for being such a perfect example of corporate social responsibility, for protecting Vietnam's environment and, most of all, for your part in the day when bear farming ends.