Bears Rescued From A Horrific Bile Farm In Vietnam After 17 years

The Asiatic bears have been rescued by animal charity Four Paws from a Vietnamese illegal ‘bile farm’ where they were kept in horrendous conditions and repeatedly forced to undergo medical procedures that can often be excruciating, in order to extract bile which is touted as a medicine.

Bear bile is prized in Asian traditional medicine, which is why the bears were kept.

Xuan the male bear is thought to have been kept in the illegal bile farm which was located in a clothes shop basement in Son La, in northern Vietnam since he was just a small cub. Rescuers believe that he had been held captive in a tiny cage since 2004.

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A female bear named Mo, was also rescued but it is unknown quite how long she had been held captive.

They bears were discovered in Son La, Vietnam, by animal welfare charity Four Paws, and they were absolutely disgusted by the conditions that the bears were being held in.

credit: four paws international

The charity described the conditions as some of the worst they've seen - saw the bears kept in total darkness in rusty and dirty cages with no access to fresh air barring the little amount of ventilation down in the basement.

They had no light, and were only fed rotten fruits and vegetables to barely keep them alive.

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After being rescued, both bears were medically examined before being taken to a sanctuary for other bears that have been rescued from bile farms.

As a result of the horrific probing required to extract their bile, both animals have gallbladder disease and Xuan is underweight and has liver disease, as well as having lost several teeth, probably from gnawing at the bars of his cage in a vain attempt to escape.

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Now that the bears have been rescued they are being taken care of at the Ninh Binh sanctuary.

Szilvia Kalogeropoulu, the vet that examined bears said that both are looking at a long way back to health.        

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