Wednesday, 21st April
A rainy and very cold day. Since early morning, the traffic had hardly moved at all – our luck to be caught up in road works that necessitated all of the lanes being closed and then re-opened every few metres along the way.
As ever on these disgusting farms, we smelt the bears before we saw them. The door creaked open and 10 pairs of eyes blinked at us out of their cages in the gloomy half light. It was only about 9 o'clock in the morning, but a grey smog hung in the air and the farm seemed all the more depressing for it. Rainbow told us that the red and gold sign above the door proudly announced "peace in four seasons" – which is ironic given that it has been anything but peaceful for the victims inside.
The recent 15th meeting of the 175-nation CITES failed many species, particularly marine, with nearly all related proposals voted down. Broadcaster Al Jazeera sums up the meeting and the situation well.
The recent 15th meeting of the 175-nation CITES failed many species, particularly marine, with nearly all related proposals voted down. Broadcaster Al Jazeera sums up the meeting and the situation well.
On Sunday last week, Vet Heather, Vet Nurse Wen, and I visited Indonesia for a few days to work with the lovely Gabriella Fredriksson (or Gaby as everyone knows her) in East Kalimantan.
There have been some lovely updates from the vet/bear team recently, since NIC had his remaining eye removed because he’d been going progressively blind.
Another exciting week with the bears in Chengdu, with a visit by long-standing friend and ally Harriet Tung and her husband, Tung Chee Chen (CC), who is the brother of Hong Kong’s first Chief Executive, Tung Chee Hwa.
We recently received a letter from Christine Yan Qing, who was so very special to us all during her years with Animals Asia at our China sanctuary. Christine even (very generously and very patiently) began Chinese lessons for the Westerners in her spare time!
UK comedian and actor Ricky Gervais has come up trumps for the bears and, just this week, won Britain's popular Absolute Radio competition “Who’s calling Christian?” beating UK opposition leader David Cameron and veteran radio and TV broadcaster and comedian Sir Terry Wogan in the process.
This past month has been one for the dogs in Hong Kong! Just a few weeks ago we held our annual Walk for Harmony, with nearly 100 volunteers, supporters and their dogs turning up in the heat to walk a route in Hong Kong – showing off our four-legged best friends as a species so deserving of being humankind’s friends, not food or fur.
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