This weekend, a group of us ventured to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center in Tam Dao National Park. I had heard from someone that it existed and of course it immediately made the Asia bucket list.
Why do bears need to be rescued? Because bear bile is still used in traditional medicine throughout Asia. Bear bile farms, while now illegal, are still a thing with over 100 of them in the Hanoi province and another 100+ in the Ho Chi Minh province. (Hanoi and HCM are cities as well as names of provinces ... like New York State and New York City). Many bears are kept in appalling conditions with two bears (or more) in small cages (see picture below). Many times, they are not regularly cleaned and bears end up living in their own waste causing a slew of health conditions. How many bears do they have? What kind of bears? The center has almost 200 bears (their capacity unfortunately) of the sun and moon varieties. The sun bears are smaller and have a yellow-ish U shaped mark on their chest. The moon bears are larger, fluffier, and have a white V shaped mark on their chest. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the moon bears. What are their living conditions like at the center? 20 bears share a pretty big enclosure where they hang out during the day. They have bear playgrounds, hammocks for lounging, and toys to play with. The humans at the center strategically place their food around the enclosures in hidey holes, up trees, etc so that the bears can practice their natural foraging skills. We watched one bear on top of a playground tearing up the tree trunk trying to get at something. The workers make sure that the bears sharing an enclosure get along. Each enclosure has an "ambassador" or bear that basically gets along with anyone. New bears meet this ambassador first and then it helps introduce it to the rest of the enclosure. We saw one of the ambassador bears, David, and he was a fat ass... like this bear looked like a Shar Pei (type of dog ... Google it) when he looked down. The fat on his neck just kind of took over his face. It was great. But I digress... Many rescued bears are physically disabled or diseased from years of abuse. They have special enclosures which feature lower playgrounds and beds (easier to climb on). We saw a couple of blind bears, a blind bear with three legs, "short" bears (that was what our guide called the ones that have one limp paw ... They used one front paw and one front elbow to walk around), as well as many with severe skin conditions from living in filth. Are they released back into the wild? Unfortunately, and fortunately, no. Since many of the bears are disabled, it wouldn't be a good idea to release those ones. Many of the ones rescued as cubs wouldn't have the survival skills needed. Also, the government won't (or can't or something) give approval for them to be released in any of the national parks. Other cool stuff: The center does a lot of outreach and education. There is a local village dubbed "Bear Bile Village" which basically makes its living farming bear bile. The center works closely with the schools in that area, hosting visits to see the bears and educating the children as to why bear farming is bad. They also provide education as to herbal alternatives for bear bile. Hopefully, through education and social pressure, this village can find a new, less awful, way to make its living.
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ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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