Dick White Referrals
and
The Moon Bears of AnimalsAsia Foundation China Bear Rescue
Earlier this year Professor Dick White, Director of Dick White Referrals in Six Mile Bottom, Newmarket was invited to visit China and operate some of the Moon Bears that had been rescued by the AnimalsAsia China Bear Rescue foundation.
Professor Dick White about to operate on Moon Bear ‘Quantocks’
– an immense privilege for any surgeon!
These bears represent just a few of the very lucky ones amongst the many thousands of bears that are kept in appalling conditions in ‘bile farms’ all over China, Viet Nam and elsewhere in Asia. Bile is collected from captive bears through surgically created biliary-cutaneous fistulae and sold for use in traditional remedies. The standard of the bears’ welfare on these farms is to say the least, very distressing and their suffering is life long.
'Jasper’ was rescued after having spent 15 years in this appallingly small cage.
It was an extraordinarily moving experience and Professor White has subsequently been involved in promoting the work of the AnimalsAsia foundation and the plight of the bears on the bile farms through the media.
Dick and Christine White also held a Charity Evening Reception in aid of the Moon Bear rescue foundation on Sunday 1st July, 2007. The guest speaker for the evening was Jill Robinson MBE, founder of China Bear Rescue foundation.
Jill Robinson MBE, founder of China Bear rescue with ‘Jasper’ during his rescue and release
This year, Jill’s world tour included San Francisco, Boston, London and she was kind enough to visit us in Six Mile Bottom too! Her presentation gave a very moving account of the foundation’s efforts to rescue and rehabilitate the bears and also to educate the public and the governments of China and Viet Nam about the need to bring bear farming to a halt. Despite its somber topic and the uncertain weather, the evening was attended by more than 200 people and was an immense success. The evening raised more than £15,000 including more than £9,000 from the charity auction.
It costs approximately £5,000 to rescue one bear from the farms and so we hope to be able to free another three bears to join Jasper!
‘Jasper’ - the bear in the cage above feeling a lot happier after rescue, corrective surgery and rehabilitation in the China Bear Rescue Sanctuary in Chengdu, China.
Dick White Referrals is very proud to be able to support the work of AnimalsAsia Foundation. We urge you to visit their website (www.animalsasia.com) to understand and support the immensely important work of this foundation.
