Couple on a mission to save moon bears

2:10pm Sunday 4th January 2009

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ANIMAL lovers David and Sarah Chilvers are hoping to attract more recruits to a drive to save bears from being farmed.

The couple support Animals Asia Foundation – a charity that rescues moon bears from horrific bile farms in China and Vietnam.

Asiatic black bears, known as moon bears because of golden crescents on their chests, have been killed for their bile for medicine for thousands of years.

Today, moon bears are held captive in special farms in China and Vietnam to milk their bile.

They are held in cages where their stomachs are exposed so they can be tapped, and bile from their stomach can be extracted and used in traditional medicines.

“More than 11,000 intelligent moon bears are trapped on brutal farms – sometimes for up to 25 years,” said Sarah.

“In China their cages are no bigger than their own bodies. These bears have no free access to water and are deliberately denied adequate food because a hungry bear produces more bile.”

To raise the profile of the autumn trip the couple hosted a charity fundraising night at the Bombay Lounge in Peatmoor in December.

There they screened a short film of a trip they made trekking along the Great Wall of China and then visiting a bear sanctuary in Chengdu where the couple met Jill Robinson, the founder of Animals Asia. Together the couple raised £5,500 for the charity.

In March this year AAF rescued 28 more bears from the bear bile farms which were in such a bad state as the result of years of torture that only 12 survived.

“They are now on their way to a happy and pain free life at the sanctuary,” said Sarah.

Sarah says she hopes to inspire other people to join them and friend Louise Wack to trek in the mountains of Vietnam for six days in October, which will be followed by a visit to a sanctuary in Vietnam.

Ring Sarah on 07866 519232 or visit www.animalsasia.org. View the film at www.environmentfilms.org.