Vietnam has opened four semi-natural enclosures at a bear rescue sanctuary, providing a safer environment to this kind of animal amid illegal bile-farming industry. Costing VND18 billion ($857,142), the enclosures at the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center located in the northern province of Vinh Phuc is funded entirely by Animals Asia Foundation. The facilities will be run under the foundation’s support for 15 years. Currently, there are still 2,400 bears in farms across Vietnam, although the country banned this practice since 1992. Bears are raised in cage for their digestive bile, which could be sold on the black market for use in traditional medicine. The poor breeding conditions have weakened the bears. They will probably die after being released to nature. The Vietnam Bear Rescue Center lies in a temperate, lowland valley in Tam Dao National Park, a swathe of lushly forested mountains to the northwest of Hanoi. It houses more than 100 endangered bears rescued mainly from the illegal bile-farming industry. Animals Asia has been rescuing bears in Vietnam for eight years. (Sai Gon Giai Phong – Saigon Liberation Nov 6 p11, Laodong.com.vn Nov 5, AFP Nov 5)
