Bear Care

BEAR

CARE

Helping bears is barely a small job.

TEXT BY CLAIRE BOOBBYER PHOTOGRAPHS BY FREE THE BEARS

Most of us have little to do with bears. We love Winnie the Pooh, but what about the ursine creatures from the rugged mountains of Laos?

Along the main footpath leading to Kouang Si waterfall, visitors are able to view rescued bears feeding, playing and resting in their forest enclosures at the Free the Bears Tat Kouang Si Bear Rescue Centre. Visitors can learn of the cruel bear bile trade and the history and current work of the Australian non-profi t charity. Free the Bears (FTB) also offers wildlife fans the

GETTING THERE Lao Airlines has daily fl ights to Luang Prabang. The Tat Kouang Si Bear Rescue Centre is located about 30 km southwest of the city at Kouang Si Falls.

MORE INFO For more information on the Bear Care Tour and to book please visit freethebears.org/pages/ bear-care-tour-laos

chance to go behind the scenes with a Bear Care Tour. The Bear Care Tour provides guests the opportunity to learn more about what it takes to care for the bears. Participants learn about individual bears and then challenge the foraging skills of the bears by making enrichment and hiding food in the forest enclosures.

Established in 2003, the Rescue Centre is 23km outside of Luang Prabang. There are currently over 30 moon bears at the rescue center, ranging from cubs to fully grown adults, all of which have the distinctive white V crescent on their chests from which their name is derived. Moon bears, also known as Asiatic black bears, are classed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In Laos, their numbers are threatened by bile farms and the illegal wildlife trade. Bile farming is a cruel practice which sees bears confi ned to tiny cages throughout their lifetime, and bile removed daily from the gallbladders using a catheter. Moon bears are also

killed for parts and traditional medicine and some are kept as “trophy” pets or used in restaurants and shops to lure visitors.

Nikki Brown, FTB’s Laos Education Technical Advisor, tells me that all of the sanctuary animals are rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. She informs me “There are still around 120 bears kept in illegal bile farms, or as pets, in Laos.” The Lao Department of Forestry Inspection and FTB are working closely to try to end this practice. Bear bile is used in traditional medicine claimed to help various ailments including aches and pains, headaches, fevers, infl ammation, liver disease, and to dissolve gallstones, although there is no scientifi c evidence to support these claims. Nikki says, “there are many safer, cheaper and more effective remedies that could be taken, including herbal medicines and over the counter medicines”. Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese people are the main buyers of bile and new information in these languages has been printed at Kouang Si for natives of these countries to read. Yet by November 2019, FTB had already rescued 17 bears, a record year of Lao rescues for the charity.

With the growing numbers of bear rescues over the past 4 years, it became clear that FTB needed to expand in Laos. In 2017 the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary (LPWS) was opened. The sanctuary will house up to 150 bears and also provides facilities for other rescued and endangered species affected

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left: Free the Bears cares for over 75 rescued moon bears in Laos 1. Mei li and Zhuxiong exploring LPWS's red panda palace 2. & 3. Bears looking for snacks at Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary

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by the illegal wildlife trade including macaques, leopard cats, birds, civets, and red pandas, rescued after being smuggled from China into Laos. Nikki informs me “The new site also features a Wildlife Hospital and we are currently completing a Quarantine House and Cub Nursery. In the future, we will have accommodation for volunteers to stay and help care for the bears and other wildlife.”

After learning all the information about FTB and its work in Laos, Nikki introduced me to some of the rescued bears. Moonie McGuinness suffered a snare injury on her right foot and has no claws; Bindi was found inside a plastic tube on the back of a motorbike; Brenda and Beryl were rescued as two-month-old cubs – confi scated from villagers by the police.

When I joined the Bear Care Tour, I worked with Nikki and the team to prepare and hide the food in one of the enclosures. We wrapped dog biscuits, sunfl ower seeds, and peanuts in large leaves, securing them tightly with the stalk, then hid them around the enclosure.

We then witnessed the feeding frenzy from a platform overlooking the compound, laughing as they tumbled in to hunt for the nutritious leaf ball snacks. The bears stood up, shaking poles to dislodge the food, and clambered quickly up onto the platforms in search of pumpkin, parsnip, and sweet potato.

The Bear Care Tour is an experience I would defi nitely recommend during any stay in Luang Prabang, and 100% of the money helps Free the Bears to continue its essential work to rescue the bears of SE Asia kept illegally as pets or in bile farms, as well as help look after the bears currently under their care.

关爱小熊

救助小熊无小事。

翻译航 图片来源 AXXXXXXX

救助小熊组织（FTB）于2003年设立了Tat Kouang Si 小熊救助中心， 该中 心目前包括幼崽及成年月熊共30只。在老挝，他们的数量受到活熊取胆和非 法野生动物贸易的威胁。月熊被因传统中药需求被杀害，或被餐厅游览区等 圈养来吸引游客参观。 我了解到，所有这里被收养的所动物都是从非法野生动物贸易中获救的。 工作人员告诉我：“在老挝非法胆汁养殖场里和被圈养的熊还有大约120多 只。”老挝林业检查局和FTB密切合作试图终止这种现象。传统医学中，熊胆 被认为可以缓解各种疾病，包括消除疼痛，头痛，发烧，炎症，肝脏疾病以及 溶解胆结石等，不过目前并没有科学证据支持这些说法。由于韩国人，越南 人和中国人是熊胆汁的主要购买者，Tat Kouang Si 中心的信息发布也被翻 译成以上语言以便他们阅读。截至2019年11月，FTB已经营救了17只熊，这 是老挝慈善机构营救数量的最高纪录。 随着月熊救援数量不断增加，很明显，FTB需要扩大规模，因此 2017年，琅 勃拉邦野生动物保护区（LPWS）成立了。该庇护所最多可容纳150只熊，还 为遭受非法野生动物贸易影响的其他获救和濒危物种提供援助设施，包括 猕猴，豹猫，鸟类，香椿和小熊猫，这些动物是从中国走私到老挝后获救的。 当我参加保护小熊之旅时，我与Nikki及其团队合作，将准备好的食物藏在 围场内，我们从一个俯瞰平台上边观察他们，边被他们他们跌跌撞撞地寻找 食物的可爱样子逗的哈哈大笑。 我强烈推荐在琅勃拉邦（Luang Prabang）逗留期间进行一次保护小熊之 旅，最重要的是100％的收费将用于帮助解救小熊组织在东南亚开展工作： 挽救非法圈养或活熊取胆的小熊，以及照顾目前正在需要帮助的小熊。

有关保护小熊之旅的更多信息及预订，请访问 freethebears.org/pages/ bear-care-tour-lao