Hands up, all those who love moon bears!

Fresh from the rescue of 33 bears from Quang Ninh province in 2015, Animals Asia has set its sights on another province becoming bear bile free.

And to achieve that the animal welfare organisation needs to win hearts and minds at grass roots level – starting with the very youngest animal lovers.

Animals Asia founder and CEO Jill Robinson, Vietnam Director Tuan Bendixsen and the whole Vietnam team – including the Hanoi office and the Vietnam Animal Welfare Team – travelled to Phung Thuong Primary School at the start of 2016 to kick off their new campaign. After sharing the plight of the bears with the 1,000 students in attendance, there was a bear-themed sing-a-long, an appearance by Moonie the moon bear and a drawing competition.

Animals Asia was joined by Dutch Embassy’s Agricultural Counsellor Arie Veldhuizen – with the help of the Embassy of The Kingdom of Netherlands, this latest campaign intends to raise awareness on bear protection in Hanoi’s Phuc Tho District. The focus is specifically on Phung Thuong Commune, where there are still over 200 captive bears on 37 bear farms.

At the school, the students sung, shouted and high-fived their support, showing that the future is bright for the campaign to end bear bile farming in Vietnam.

With the drawing competition running through March, these students will have plenty of opportunities to share what they’ve learned with their families – as they work on their masterpieces.

Jill said: 

“There was no better way to start a new year. It was so encouraging to see all of these young people cheering for the bears, promising to help them and taking pictures with our bear mascot Moonie! It’s clear that these children have an inherent passion for protecting local wildlife, and they see as plain as we do that bears should be free, not caged and exploited for their bile.”

Tuan said:

“Now that we’ve taken down one of the worst provinces for bile farming in Vietnam, we want to keep up the momentum.”

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