Almost half of the bears rescued recently from horrendous conditions on Chinese bile farms have died.
The Asiatic black bears - known as Moon bears because of the distinctive white crescent on their chest - had spent most of their lives locked in tiny cages being 'milked' of the bile used in traditional Chinese medicine.
They were brought to the Animals Asia rescue centre in Chengdu in the Sichuan Province founded 10 years ago by Briton Jill Robinson but many were past help.
"They all needed abdominal surgery and were grossly underweight at about 50 kilos when they should weigh 150 kilos. Some of these animals had been kept on the farms for 20 years and had no teeth or claws," said Robinson on a fund-raising tour of the UK.
"Ten of the bears died within 11 days and post-mortems showed most of them were suffering from liver cancer probably caused by the catheters inserted into their stomachs to drain the bile.
"One bear was covered in puncture marks as though the farmer knew he was dying and wanted to extract every last drop of bile before he died."
She suspects that the bears handed over to the rescue charity were all at the end of their usefulness for the bile farmers and therefore unwanted.
Robinson arrived in China more than 20 years ago and established her sanctuary after witnessing the conditions the bears are kept in on a chance visit to a farm.
She has been a vociferous critic of the farms and in 2000 signed a breakthrough agreement with the Chinese authorities to rescue 500 bears and to work towards banning bear farms altogether.
Since then she has rescued about half the target number and seen the number of bear farms drop from 480 to 68. There are still about 7,000 bears being held.
Wherever possible Animal Asia has bought out the licences of farms providing the owners with enough cash to start other businesses.
"Unfortunately what are left are the super farms holding thousands of animals," said Robinson.
"The tragedy is that this is all unnecessary. Synthetic bear bile which is just as effective and costs only a few pennies is widely available yet still this barbaric practice continues.
"It brings shame on China that the farms remain. I don't know whether the government really understands the depth of feeling about them.
"The Chinese would earn such kudos if they shut them down forever. The Olympic Games is only a few months away and provides a wonderful opportunity to offer care and protection for an endangered species."
The charity says it is making progress and has supporters in powerful positions in government. Animals Asia has won the right to accompany officials when they carry out farm inspections which allows them to expose some of the worst offenders.
Jill Robinson also warns consumers that the bile extracted from some of the terminally ill bears may pose a threat to human health.
"When it emerges it is like black sludge and is tainted by the puss associated with the liver cancer that many bears develop. Doctors who have seen it say they would never take it themselves."
She speaks movingly of the bears and the suffering they are forced to endure at the hands of humans.
"They are wonderful, intelligent creatures who have distinct personalities and display many of the motions we see in humans. Many are so damaged psychologically by their experiences that they go into a spiral of self harm that is impossible to treat.
"One bear ate her arm down to the bone. But they are very stoic and with care and affection they can survive to lead happy lives.
"They can never be released into the wild because they are too damaged but they are very forgiving and just like a dog that has been mistreated they do recover.
"In many cases it is the bears who support us because they have emotions as finely tuned as humans and they seem to understand that they are there because of us. Even though they have been so cruelly mistreated they seem able to forgive."
The rescue centre in Chengdu was badly hit during the recent earthquake and several accommodation blocks for the staff were destroyed although the more solid bear enclosures survived intact.
Despite the setback the charity was able to send workers into neighbouring areas rescuing dogs and other pets that owners were no longer able to care for.
The charity which has 230 staff worldwide, needs about £50,000 per month to survive, the bulk of which comes from donations.
More information can be found at www.animalsasia.org