Everyone has a hero in their lives and I first saw mine when I was six. She starred in an unforgettable film called “Born Free”, which touched the heart of a little girl and started the ripple of a lifetime love of animals.
As many of you know, I spend a lot of my time on the road giving talks and fundraising and this of course means time away from our bears.
We have so many fantastic supporters who help us in a myriad of ways and many of these people never get any recognition for their generous support. So every now and again I’d like to say a special thank you to one of these wonderful people.
Arvid, one of our techie gurus in Hong Kong, has just set up an RSS feed for my blog. For those of you know don’t know what this is, it basically saves you time by letting you know if the blog has been updated.
Winters can be pretty chilly in northern Vietnam, but this is one little bear that knows how to stay warm. Mara, one of the three adorable cubs rescued from a smuggler, has made herself a snug little bed and, luckily, our bear manager Amanda had her camera at the ready.
With the big chill continuing at the China sanctuary, our bears are now keeping snug and warm in surgery thanks to all you kind people who have knitted and sewn such lovely mittens for them.
I’m so sorry to have to bring you this news, but sadly, our two little puppies rescued from the market did not pull through. At least their last days were filled with love and kindness thanks to their lovely guardian, Guangzhou vet John Wu. Rest in peace sweet Hope and Shame. We won’t let your deaths be in vain.
The market also doubles as a slaughterhouse – a round metal drum with orange spikes used for “de-furring” the cats and dogs sits just outside a burning cauldron that will be cooking their meat for customers towards lunchtime.
Recently, I visited Maoshan Live Animal Market in Guangzhou with two of our China team, Christie and Rainbow. Such visits are probably the hardest part of our work at Animals Asia, but they’re also among the most important. We must keep monitoring this situation and exposing the truth about these hell-holes. These are my notes from the visit:
Grateful thanks to everyone who rose to the knitting challenge, feverishly creating beautiful mittens for our bears to keep them snug and warm in surgery! It’s no exaggeration to say that we have been inundated with mitts and truly touched by the kindness of you all who heard our plea. We have so many (and lots still coming apparently!) that there may be enough to send to other bear groups working in the field – it’s just wonderful that so many bears in so many countries can now benefit from people thousands of miles away who listened and responded to our cry for help.
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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