Vietnam News 18 Nov 09;
HA NOI — Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) has received more than 7,000 letters from around the world urging the Vietnamese Government to confiscate bears being held illegally on bile farms in the popular tourist spot of Ha Long Bay, in the northern province of Quang Ninh.
The letter-writing campaign was launched by the AAF after trying for two years to convince the authorities to confiscate 79 bears (endangered Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears) that are not registered and have no microchips – legal requirements in Viet Nam.
A police raid in October confirmed there were 24 illegal bears held on one farm at Dai Yen just outside Ha Long city.
More than 7,000 people including politicians from the UK, Australia and Europe, and internationally best-selling authors had written letters to the Vietnamese Prime Minister, according to Jill Robinson, founder and CEO of AAF.
"This sends a very strong message that the world is watching and people will not remain silent while endangered moon bears are treated so cruelly and driven to the point of extinction," Robinson said. "All we are asking is that the government implement its own laws and protect this majestic species for future generations."
Bear bile farming was made illegal in Viet Nam in 1992, but farmers are allowed to keep the bears to display to tourists. In an attempt to protect the few bears remaining in the wild, the authorities together with the World Society for the Protection of Animals – micro-chipped the 4,000 bears on farms. The 79 bears in question, including the 24 targeted in the recent raid, have no microchips, which means they were probably illegally caught in the wild.
"We put our faith in the government, and have built a world-class bear rescue centre to accommodate these bears. The government’s failure to act is tarnishing Viet Nam’s image around the world and not fulfilling its international commitment in protecting endangered wildlife," said Tuan Bendixsen, Animals Asia’s Viet Nam director.
Viet Nam’s Environmental Police and the local Ha Long Police caught employees of the Dai Yen farm extracting and selling bear bile to Korean tourists last month.
Bile extraction equipment and more than 200 vials containing freshly extracted bile were confiscated, yet still no one has been charged. According to the police report, each month, 30 to 40 tour groups visit the farm to buy bear bile.
Animals Asia investigators first alerted the authorities to the illegal activities at farms in the Ha Long Bay area in 2007. Undercover film footage and photos proving bile was still being extracted from bears and sold to tourists was passed over to the Government. This prompted an earlier raid on farms in the area, with 80 bears being identified as being held illegally.
So far, just one bear has been removed to the Viet Nam Bear Rescue Centre. Animals Asia and other non-governmental organisations – Education for Nature Viet Nam, Free the Bears Fund Inc, Wildlife at Risks, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals – have formed the Viet Nam NGO Bear Taskforce.
Bear bile is used in traditional medicine for a range of "heat-related" ailments such as eye and liver disease. In November 2005, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the Vietnamese Government to rescue 200 bears and care for them at the Viet Nam Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Tam Dao National Park.
To date, the centre hosts 28 bears confiscated by the government and currently has the capacity to receive 100 more bears rescued from bear farms.
At least two deputies of the Viet Nam’s National Assembly, Prof Nguyen Lan Dung and Nguyen Dinh Xuan, are planning to call for the confiscation of the 24 bears during the assembly’s November 17-19 session.
The 7,000-plus letters, which will be delivered to the Prime Minister’s office soon, include those from internationally acclaimed authors Bryce Courtenay and Bradley Trevor Greive. — VNS
