Some pictures just tell a story better than words ever can. Thanks to Tuan, The and Chien for the latest rescue of two indescribably beautiful cubs in Vietnam.

I'll pass the blog over to Tuan who narrates the rescue and sadly references the fact that the cubs, nicknamed Lai Chau and Sin Ho were suspiciously close to the Chinese border. How many cubs weren't so lucky as these two....?

Congratulations to Tuan and team - and welcome home our new little
family members.

Now over to Tuan:

On Thursday 20/9/2012 we left for Lai Chau to rescue 2 moon bear cubs. Lai Chau is approximately 450km North West of Hanoi. It’s a frontier province sharing much of its border with China. According to Lai Chau Forest Protection Department, on the 2/9/2012 the local police in Than Uyen District in Lai Chau Province spotted a suspicious motorbike with 2 men carrying a cane basket in a remote village. They stopped the bike and found 2 cubs in the basket. The men were arrested, and told the police that they had bought the cubs for 1,500 USD and were going to resell them to an unknown buyer from Lao Cai (the bordering province). It is likely that the cubs were on their way to a bear farm in China owing to the close proximity of Lao Cai to China.

The definite age of the cubs is unknown. They weigh approximately 12kg and 9kg, and are both male. Lai Chau FPD contacted us as soon as they were asked by the local police to take over the keeping of the cubs. We sent them our "cub feeding guide" and, because of the early intervention and good effort by Lai Chau FPD in looking after the cubs, both are doing very well and looking healthy.

It took us, in total, almost 12hrs to get back to Tam Dao because of the terrible roads damaged by recent flooding. Lai Chau FPD was very supportive which made the rescue so much easier. Chien looked after the cubs very well, we fed them 4 times a day and made frequent stops because the roads were so bumpy. Our external affairs officer, The, was very good in dealing with Lai Chau FPD and the local police on the way back, as we were stopped 4 times either by the police or local FPD after tip offs by locals who saw the cubs on the road.