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Mary Hutton has made it her life's work to rescue and shelter bears from a life of exploitation and danger

Whenifirst met Mary Hutton, she was speaking at the Sydne)' office of World Expeditions, the Australian adventure travel co m pan y, and she was about to lead a com to India co visit the sanctuaries established there to care for rescued bears.

In 1 993, Mary, a grandmother living in suburban Perth was con templating her retirement. Instead, her Life rook an entirely different and unexpected mm When she switched oo d1e televis ion one nighr she saw gut-wrench ing news footage of traumatised As iatic black bears, confined in boxes, unable ro move, wid1 catheters piercing their gall b ladders to extract bi le for use in traclirional C h in ese medicine. On learning that d1ousaods of bears suffer extreme cruel ty, Mary embarked on an unstoppable mi ssion ro free them

Mary S\Vtmg into action col.leering signatures at d1e local shopping mall. Within mo n ths she had a group of vo lunteer supporters and by 1995, the 'Free the Bears Fund' was formed. She also learnt of the plight of other bears Like the Cambodian Sun bears, kil led to make bear paw soup. She b rought some that had been rescued to Taronga Zoo, and later co Perth Zoo to start a regional breeding program. Mary then set to work building a sanctuary in Cambodia, now the world's largest sancruary for sun bears. In Laos, Mary also established sanctuaries aod contiJrnes to ca m paign for the closure of bear bile farms in Vi etnam and Laos Hundreds of thousa nds o f local schoo l children have v isited the sancruaries in an attempt at educating them about the environmen t and the need co p rotect animals in the wild.

Mary's iuvo lvernent with India was prompted b y an email from Maneka Gandhi in 2002, that led to the Free the Bears Fun d joini ng Wildlife SOS (an Indian based conservation group) and International Anima l Rescue, in the seemingly impossible chal.lenge o f rescuing India's dancing bears. The tradition of dancin g bears had existed since the 13th centur y, when nomadic Kalandar tri bespeop le would visit the palaces of Mughul Emperors with performing wild animals, including sloth bears. Unfortunately, the practice continued through to the twentieth century, "~ th the bears used to ente r tain foreign tourists at popular sites such as the Taj Mahal Although the sloth bear has been protected b y Ind ian law since 1972, and bear dancing has been prohibi ted si nce 1998, with all bear dancing licenses evenmally revoked , it was difficul t to enforce this la,v, since no facilities existed to place the bears.

The Free the Bears fund financed the construction and ongoing car e of rescued bears at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. All the sloth bea r s that were n1rned in remained in the sanctuaries due to health and behavioural prob le m s.

The Fund also financed the Kalandar Rehabilitation Program, which enabled the owners/masters of former dancing bears to develop new livelihoods In collaboration with Wildlife SOS, d1e Fund made 'seed ' money a,7ailabl e to over 500 Kal aJ1dar faJnilies to buy equipment and learn new skills, so the y cou ld begin new su stainable for m s o f income, with a basic education provided for their childre n, in exchange for turning in d1ei r bears Some chose to remain witb their bears aJ1d gained employment at the sanctua r ies.

The Fund paid for 554 rehabilitation packages for the rescue of former danc ing sloth bears and supports four sanctuaries. Sadly due to deaths caused by illness, mainl y tuberculos is, the F Lmd currently supports 370 sloth bears at the sanctuaries at Agra, Bannerghatta near Benga luru, West Bengal and Bhopal (Van Vihar) providing a safe and secure home. \Vhen the last dancing bear entered the Bannergh atta sancnrnry in December 2009, the pitiful sight of bears being dragged o n ropes through the street.5 was consigned co the past.

1v1ary maiorains contact with the Kalandars, v is iting a village recentl y where cottage industries had been estab lished, \vith women se\ving and the children attendi ng schoo l. Mary is currently develop ing a vohmteer program in India and welcomes vo luntee rs, as [he sanctuaries chat coul d not continue withom tl1e generosity of donors, whether companies o r individua ls.

1v1ary advi sed that she would be accompanying another tom to Laos and Camb o dia to visi t tl1e bear sanctuaries in Nove mber, after just having her aurob iography Free the Bears published.

''\Xl ill you ever sto p? " I asked this unique lad)r.

"Unli kel y," replied Mary, wi th con vi ction. "\l({ich each country facing a unique set o f issues co ove rcome, we employ a range of strategies including environmental education, conse rvation research an d strengthened law enforcement, to ensure that we achieve o ur miss ion to protect, prese rve and enrich che lives of bears

Main picture: throughout the world," she added. I don't think l\fary will be retiring any time soon.

Tina and Santiago were less tha n two weeks old when rescued.

At Free the Bears, 100% of donations go directly to the rescued bears At last count, 554 bears in India and 31 bears in Laos have been rescued so far, with 25 moon bears placed at the Tat Kuang Si

R escue Cemre. In Cambodia, 168 sun and moon bears have been rescued, with 127 at the Phnom Tamao Rescue Centre.

As I was completing our chat,

Bears in a hammock having fun at Phnom Tamao

Keeper Sreekanta with cubs in Quarantine Facility Agra Rescue Centre India.

Mary with one of the rescued dancing bears in the Ag ra Facility. Soon to be rid of his rope.

Feed time for Serey l\fary mentioned tha t a little one year old male su n bear had been brought co the sa nctuar y, rescued by a policeman from a province nearby. Over 80 bears have been rescued in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, and bro ug ht to sanctuaries b uilt with support from Free the Bears F Lmd. Overall, over 800 bears have been rescued and reside in the safety of sanctuari es built or supported by Free the Bears, with over 500 bears relying on the Fund fortheir ongoing care.

For opportunities to voluntee1; wid1 commit111e11t t/Je main criteria visit: Freethebe111·s.org.a11