An Animals Asia rescue team is in Vietnam’s Dak Lak province to free six moon bears from a lifetime of suffering on a bear bile farm.

The rescue team are in Buon Ma Thuot city today (05.12.2016), in the mountainous Central Highlands, and hope to have all six bears out of their cages and in the rescue truck by the end of the day.

If successful, on Tuesday the team will begin a 1,300km overland journey from Dak Lak province to Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in Vinh Phuc province, about an hour outside of Hanoi.

The team are expected to return to the sanctuary on Thursday 8 December.

You can follow the rescue live and their entire journey here.

The rescued will be shared live via Animals Asia website and social media platforms – with supporters asked to donate towards rescue costs and rehabilitation of the bears.

All six bears are believed to have suffered a decade of bile extraction – a painful process in which bile from a bear’s gall bladder is removed for use in traditional medicine.

Animals Asia’s Vietnam Director Tuan Bendixsen said:

“We have very little information about the bears so far. But we’ve done enough rescues to know they will need urgent medical care and we are bringing a veterinary team well versed in emergency procedures.”

Animals Asia’s Senior Veterinary Surgeon Mandala Hunter-Ishikawa said:

“Most bears on bile farms suffer from malnutrition, shattered teeth from trying to chew their way through metal bars, skin disorders, potential cancers as a result of bile extraction and extreme mental disorders. We never know what we’ll face until we arrive but we will be ready for anything.”

The rescue has been made possible thanks to local Forestry Protection Department officials who have convinced the bear owners to finally give up the long suffering animals.

In 2005, the Vietnamese government attempted to eradicate bear bile farming by microchipping every bear in captivity and banning any new bears from being added to existing stocks.

At the time, more than 4,239 bears were being held on farms around the country. As the state was unable to provide rescue shelters for such a large number of animals, the farmers were allowed to keep the bears on the proviso they would not continue to extract bile.

However, this pragmatic solution has allowed bear bile farming to persist in the country despite its illegality.

To date, Animals Asia has rescued around 600 bears, mostly from the bear bile industry, in Vietnam and China. Nearly 300 bears continue to live at the NGO’s sanctuaries in Chengdu, China and Vinh Phuc, Vietnam.

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