I'm currently in the middle of our UK Roadshow, so here's a post for our lovely UK supporters:
I'm currently in the middle of our UK Roadshow, so here's a post for our lovely UK supporters:
Every week, our vet and bear teams from both China and Vietnam send over reports of all the goings-on on site. Bears that are skittish in the spring, and enjoying the warm summer days, then eating more or sliding into winter dormancy and snoozing for days or even weeks in their dens.
It was good to see many old friends from Germany again and to meet such lovely new friends too. Faces glowing and so excited to catch up with all the development in China as they waited to greet Jasper and friends in house 2, and to be introduced to Oliver who was recently released into his new den and enclosure in House 10.
Tim Robinson, our PR manager for Australia and New Zealand, and 18 wonderful supporters from Australia, the UK and Hong Kong have just set off on Animals Asia's China Trek 2010. Click here to read Tim's fantastic blog on their adventures.
We recently had an amazing couple of days with officials from 27 provinces across China joining local and international NGOs in a conference organised, funded and hosted by Animals Asia and Humane Society International in Nanjing.
The silence following Dr Jane Goodall’s speech was deafening – and then came the rapturous applause. Her words were greeted with warmth and passion by the audience who were in Hong Kong for Jane’s Roots and Shoots conference and who themselves, as per the title of the conference, were the Reason for Hope.
Swaying up there on a tree that no one thought she could climb, there was naughty Maggie who arrived at our Vietnam sanctuary in April 2009 weighing less than 3kgs and now topping the scales at 83kgs!
Well, as Jude, our Australia Donor Development and Administration Manager said this week, “It’s rainin’ bears!”. And it is.
I looked with disbelief at a story that has recently appeared in the media here in China - dogs being dyed to resemble wild and exotic animals.
Just seconds after returning to my room after enjoying seeing Oliver outside in his grassy enclosure, I heard a message on the walkie talkie from Bear Manager Anna inviting me back again to House 10 where brown bear Rocky was being let out into a den for the first time. So much excitement in one afternoon!
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.