Just recently we were lucky enough to host Asia singer, actress, celebrity, and all round wonderful woman, Karen Mok on yet another visit to our bear sanctuary in Chengdu.

Superstar Karen (often referred to as "the Madonna of Asia”) called in to see our staff and bears and, of course, to say a warm hello to her own rescued bear, Bao Be. Here she Karen with the team, fourth from the left at the back.

According to everyone, Karen was lovely as ever, and I was sorry to have missed her this time - especially as she spent so long admiring Bao Be and, together with Bear Manager Sofie, feeding him treats of dried fruit and cream cheese.

Such treats form part of his enrichment diet and it was clear that he was having a marvellous time being thoroughly spoiled - particularly at one point, according to Sofie, when he very kindly thanked Karen by burping twice in her face,

After forgiving him for his appalling manners, Karen also met Jingle, Bao Be's best friend and seemed sad about Jingle's missing paw, which had probably seen her caught in the wild in a snare or leg-hold trap, before being cruelly caged on a farm. Luckily for Jingle she must have somehow escaped, as we rescued her from farmland, 9 metres up a tree!

As ever, Karen was interested in the whole running of the centre, and said a special thank you to our fabulous bear workers who take care of Bao Be, JIngle and friends. Obviously a cat lover too, she spent a lot of time talking with one of our 22 rescued cats on site - and kindly posed for some pictures with our companion animal education posters, to help us spread the word that dogs and cats are our friends, not food.

With special thanks to Lucky, Susan and Star for all their organisation and help during Karen's visit - and Karen, thank you for popping by, and we hope to welcome you again soon!