Just as our sanctuary team in Vietnam got word of a tiny, orphaned moon bear cub who needed our help, we were contacted about an older moon bear who’d suffered on a bile farm for over a decade and desperately needed rescuing.

Donate to help this beautiful, broken bear recover from their unimaginable past.

Our rescue teams jumped into action to prepare for the rescue and arrival of the cub and the older bear. In rescue situations, our sanctuary team often has little information about the bears, so they have to prepare for all eventualities. 

In this case, we knew nothing about the older bear, who we’ve nicknamed ‘Plum’, other than they were on a small bile farm in Son La, which is on the Vietnam-Laos border, around ten hours’ drive from our sanctuary in Tam Dao.

According to our sources, the bear had been at the farm since 2008. 

Plum had been trapped in a small, rusty cage with nothing to do or see, no companions to play with or even touch, no open space to stare into, no grass to roll around on, no delicious snacks to forage for and hungrily devour… for 15 years.

“The level of physical and psychological damage this poor bear would have sustained over those long, lonely 15 years is unimaginable,” Heidi Quine, Bear and Vet Director said. 

“But we will do everything in our power to give Plum back some of what was cruelly snatched away from them all those years ago.”

WIth Plum’s arrival to our Tam Dao sanctuary, we have just five spaces left for any other bears who need us.

Please help Plum on their road to recovery and help us build a second sanctuary so we can give more bears like Plum the second chance they so desperately need. 

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