As many of you know, we had a special VIP guest on site in Chengdu at the end of May – the amazing actress Lesley Nicol who plays the wonderfully popular cook, Mrs Patmore, in Downton Abbey, and her super lovely husband Da'aboth. Lesley's visit comes shortly after fellow Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan was on site, also showing his support for the bears.
The furor over bear farming in China continues to grow - with amazing people here inventing ever more creative ways to get the message out.
Since writing a blog on this in March, nothing can describe the atmosphere of the kids and staff who are 101% on side.
Josef (Sepp) Haüsl is a talented, passionate and incredibly generous photographer who, together with his partner Monika, has visited our sanctuaries in China and Vietnam capturing the most stunning images of our bears.
In amongst the chaos of the bear rescue in China, our Education team were also busy in Chengdu town celebrating Earth Day by spreading the word of bear farming and bringing in new young supporters of our work. Cooperating with the biggest Book Mall in Chengdu, Education Officer Jacky and team set up a display of children's drawings showing the grim reality of bile farming- and even "moved" our education room from the sanctuary to show the audience Caesar's full metal jacket, and Franzi's tiny crush cage.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Jasmine reports that a fantastic exhibition of art against bear bile farming is displayed in the subway station (MTR) at Sheung Wan.
A short but exciting blog following our China team's recent visit to a large and influential medical conference in Shanghai.
It’s just over a week since another devastating earthquake hit the province of Sichuan. Less than 100 miles away in Chengdu, our sanctuary rooms shook and it was inconceivable to think that villages around Ya'an at the epicentre were being devastated for the second time in under five years.
That dark, dirty room, stinking of faeces and infection, and you all peering grimly into the gloom from your "coffin" cages. I remember my chest tightening with fear coming so close to such large and intimidating bears, but then recoiling in horror, a lightning bolt of shock to my heart, witnessing animals so clearly in pain.
These past few weeks have been beyond crazy with back-to-back presentations and events in the UK and USA. There’s also been a lot happening with regard to the amazing progress of our newly rescued bears.
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.
Read more here.
