A bear rescue is currently taking place in Danang, Vietnam by Animals Asia - ahead of an 800km drive back to the animal welfare charity’s sanctuary near Hanoi.

Follow the #DanangRescue LIVE here.

At this point, only limited details are known. It has been confirmed that this is a voluntary bear handover by a domestic household that has just one bear.

The bear is a 13-year-old female and she is likely to have been caged since being captured as a young bear. 

Animals Asia Vietnam Director Tuan Bendixsen, who is leading the rescue, said:

“We assume, as with all such rescues, that the bear has been kept to extract bile - but we won’t know for sure until we can run proper medical tests on our return. What we do know is that this bear has been caged for an awfully long time and we look forward to changing that.

“We expect to be back at our sanctuary inside two days, where the bear will enter quarantine as work starts immediately on medical care.” 

Last year in Vietnam the team carried out 41 bear rescues. This included 33 bears from Quang Ninh province - where bear bile farming was eradicated. This will be the 162nd bear rescued in Vietnam by Animals Asia with almost 150 bears still being cared for at the sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park. 

In Vietnam there continues to be around 1,200 bears caged by the bile industry. Bile is extracted for use in traditional medicine.

In China, where over 10,000 bears are still caged by the bile industry, Animals Asia has rescued a further 417 bears.

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