Last month, wildlife photographer Peter Yuen documented the progress of Animals Asia's Peace by Piece project to turn a bear bile farm into a sanctuary.

After returning home from his assignment, Peter published his thoughts on the trip. He had expected to see the horrors of a bear bile farm. Progress by the Animals Asia team meant he saw something far more encouraging.

Here we publish some extracts from Peter's blog.

Arriving at the Nanning Bear Farm I saw the scene familiar to anyone who has been on the Peace by Piece website, rows of cages, a remnant of the bears' previous life.

Shed 1: bear A1... A2... A3...

I realise that these bears are individuals, with individual characters, appearance, likes and dislikes, and in some cases, medical issues.

As this sinks in I start to feel a sense of urgency. Animals Asia's biggest task may be to get these bears out in world-class enclosures as soon as possible, but their biggest challenge is to help people to understand and support the campaign for these 127 individuals. It was also my challenge for the following three days; I want people to see these wonderful bears, to put a face to each of these numbers.

B15... B16... onto Shed 2... A1...

Knowing what bile farms are like, I had braced myself for the worst and I wasn't expecting to see any happy, healthy looking bears. I was glad to be proven wrong. It's incredible just how much Animals Asia have been able to accomplish in such a short time. While bears like Derek still bear the scars of their previous life, they are already fattening up to healthy weights and so many of their coats are in fabulous condition, thick and glossy. While it's exciting to think about the bear rescue initially planned, or the big plans in store for the site in future, these bears are just happy to have constant access to food and water.

After the basics were taken care of, Animals Asia introduced as much enrichment as they could. The farm workers have been incredible, learning so much for the first time about the animals, which have always been such a huge part of their life. Wen Yan, Vet Support Manager, translates for us as one keeper tells us how happy she is to see the bears filled with vitality and looking healthier. A huge smile crosses her face as she hands out flavoured ice treats, part of the increasing amount of enrichment that the bears are getting.

In between health checks, enrichment, and frequent stops to tell Smudge how cute she is, I finally made it round to meet all of these unique bears. I wish I could share each one of their stories with you, and I'm sure all of these characters will get their 15 minutes of fame as the days go on.

For now, what better way to get across the scale of this project than to show you all of these special animals?

To read the full article, visit Peter's website.

If you would like to support Peter's animal welfare work around Asia please visit his Patreon page.

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