Why does it always happen like this? Just when we celebrate the life of a bear (Jasper’s this week), we lose the life of one we hold so dear. Mafi's behaviour was typical for this time of year – a semi-dormancy, which sees the bears eating less and sleeping more.
Nic actually bowed as she came into the surgery this morning and Belinda beamed as she held (and smelled) his earthy paw.
Having 170 kids and 20 dogs together in one school was potentially a recipe for chaos and it almost seemed like that at first glance. But as our Professor Paws Fun Day finally got under way, it soon became clear that kids and dogs alike were having a ball – while learning at the same time.
PS: Judy Blythe, one of our brilliant volunteers who was out here helping to care for Wilfred, saw the last blog and couldn't help herself, gushing about this gorgeous boy. Poodley (now Haribo) is also doing brilliantly well today.
So many people have followed blind Wilfred's story from when he first arrived with us in March 2008. Affectionately known as "Watermelon" because it was the only thing he would eat after being offloaded from the truck, this gorgeous boy is a profound example of how bears heal and forgive after being abused and deprived on the hell-hole farms.
Here is our UK Director, Dave Neale's heart-wrenching story of how battery hens are raised and treated in the UK and why, with just a little forethought we, as individual consumers, can drastically improve their lives.
As you know, it’s been a hectic couple of months for us, starting with the heartbreaking rescue of 149 sick and skeletal dogs from an illegal meat trader on New Year’s Eve. Then we had the arrival of 13 new farmed bears at our Chengdu sanctuary, the brown bears’ move to their new enclosure – and so it goes on.
I love reading the weekend reports when things are a little quieter and the person on duty can enjoy some well-deserved bear-watching as well as attending to the normal duties of the day. Here is a lovely addition to the brown bear’s antics by Hayley this weekend:
Wednesday 9.30am, and there we were at the window of Caesar's bunker waiting for the doors of her den to open into her brand new world. The enclosure looked superb. Our ex-Architect, Darren Seng, and Project Director Boris and his team had done a truly remarkable job in creating two appropriate areas which could both enrich and stimulate Caesar, Benji and Poupouce, and which could also provide an educational platform from which viewers could observe.
Tuesday was Senior Bear Manager Nic's birthday - and the day of the big move. Brown bear Caesar and Tibetan browns Benji and Poupouce were being prepared to be transferred into their new specially designed enclosures which would cater to their different characteristics, compared with the moon bear type enclosures where they currently live. Substantially larger than the Asiatic black bears, Caesar, Benji and Poupouce have a propensity for digging - especially in the colder weather. Caesar, as you may have read in a previous blog, was a master at this and dug for China, often proudly surveying her "den" after an afternoon's work, which would fit six grown men.
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.
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