As many of you know I am now in China familiarising myself with the work of Animals Asia, (AA)  a non government organisation who work tirelessly to reduce animal cruelty and exploitation in Asia.

This is rather a long blog, but please bear with me – excuse the pun…!

AA have many projects, one of which I spoke about in my last Blog, Dr Dog, and another I will tell you about in my next Blog, Professor Paws, both of which aim to improve relationships between humans and animals and encourage mutual respect.

AA also work to improve the wellbeing of animals in captivity (zoos, circuses etc) with the ultimate aim to help bring an end to the captive animal industry. I have visited horrendous zoos, circuses and waterparks, and seen more exotic animals in one week in the cities of China than I have seen elsewhere in my entire life.  This includes every iconic African animal you can think of plus arctic foxes, panda bears, dolphins and sharks to name but a few, and all in horrific captive environments, purely for human entertainment and greed.

However, AA’s core activity is the plight of the Moon Bears, who for centuries have been farmed for their bile for “medicinal” purposes. They are kept in tiny cages and bile is extracted from their gall bladders daily, through open catheters, with no anaesthetic. They can barely move in these small cages. I will say no more, take a look at pictures of the exhibits for yourself:

Animals Asia have been operating for 18 years under their founder Jill Robinson, and they will keep going until the cruelty ends. They work collaboratively with the governments and people of both China and Vietnam.

So far they have successfully rescued over 300 bears from Bear Bile farms and in once case managed to convince a bile farmer to convert their farm into a sanctuary. This is located in Nanning, China.  Ex bile farmers, now carers, look after the bears here, together with Animals Asia vets and staff. This is not ideal for the bears as its a functional space with concrete enclosures, but at least they are no longer in pain and are being lovingly cared for.

The plan is to eventually move all of these bears to  Animal Asia’s purpose built sanctuary in Chengdu where I have spent the last few days. It is paradise in comparison.

Here is Nicola Jayne, named after my niece, Nicola Olsen, who is currently in Nanning.  She is hopeful of moving to Chengdu one day, where she will feel grass under her feet for the first time in her life.

Here are some photos of the lucky bears who are already living at Animal Asia’s Sanctuary in Chengdu.

There are currently 126 rescued bears living in the Chengdu sanctuary and once funds have been raised to extend this facility, and the necessary legalities have been attended to, the remaining 126 Nanning bears will move to Chengdu as well.

I suspect it will be a while before this happens though, as in excess of $750,000 will need to be raised to achieve this.  I have no doubt however, that Jill and her team will make it happen one day – with a little help from her friends !

Health Checks

At the Chengdu sanctuary the bears need 2 yearly health checks to ensure their wellbeing. Below is a photo of one of the very trusting bears who after positive reinforcement training, now voluntarily offers his arm for blood tests. This is really good news as it negates the need for constant sedation.

I can’t believe this Bear did this, right in front of my eyes. I also can’t believe he has forgiven humans and is now trusting them! How incredible is that?

THE UNFORGOTTEN ONES…

This may seem a bit morbid, but to be honest it was strangely uplifting in a way. These are the graves of 160 bears I visited with Jill yesterday. They have all been buried by Animals Asia over the past 16 years and are bears who were given the dignity they deserve.

There have been storms here this last week and when we arrived there was a lot of debris covering the graves and headstones. I decide to spend the afternoon here by myself clearing up . It was so peaceful. I just wanted it to look nice for them.

I am off to Vietnam in a few days time, to see more of Animals Asia’s work there. I will keep you posted.

So today I visited an Animal Asia project in Hong Kong called Dr Dog.

This project involves taking dogs to old age homes, hospitals – children’s wards and institutions where people are experiencing difficulties of all sorts . The dogs bring such joy to these people as simply patting a dog can help relieve so many symptoms (animal therapy) and some respond to animals (dogs) much better than they do to humans as they feel they aren’t being judged.

I saw it first hand today when I was invited to be part with the Dr Dog team when they took 5 lovely and very friendly dogs to visit an old age home, the elderly people were so happy to see the dogs. It was written all over their faces ……. The BIGGEST smiles you’ve ever seen

The dogs and their owners are thoroughly vetted by the Animals Asia team before being accepted and allowed to become a member of the Dr Dog team. The dogs owners work on a voluntary basis and there are currently 1000 dogs (approx) participating in the Dr Dog Project in Hong Kong and main land China.

It was a privilege to be invited to take part in such a fantastic and worth while project.  It was an emotional yet very rewarding experience. The world should all look after their elderly better. Well done to the Animal Asia – Dr Dog team/s for delivering such an amazing project. So good to witness animals and humans a mutually beneficial relationship!

Off to Chengdu to see the Bears tomorrow, very excited!

Arrived in Hong Kong yesterday. Thunderstorms here and it’s 33 degrees and muggy … Phew 😳

I met up with Jill from Animals Asia Foundation (Jill Robinson MBE, the founder of this amazing charity)

As part of my homework, I will be witnessing not only the state of the horrendous Bear Bile industry but a wide range of Animal Exploitation issues that the likes of Animals Asia are up against here.

Today we went to the Safari park in Guangzhou  … so so sad. We were in tears most of the time we were there. Beyond belief !

This evening I went to the circus 😪😪😪😪

Elephants spinning around and dancing, bears dancing, bears riding bicycles, bears riding motorbikes, Tigers out on display, primates riding bicycles and playing musical instruments , bushbuck, zebra, giraffe and ostriches running around the circus ring as well as a fully grown hippo and a baby hippo doing tricks……and Flamingos running around and dancing …the list goes on, yes, I said the list goes on.

Over the next 2 weeks I will post regular updates providing an insight into what Animals Asia are doing to help combat animal exploitation in general.

A quick update on Usiku the young Hyena.  Apologies for he blurred photo’s but they have been taken through the fence!

He is getting on really well in his temporary enclosure within the Liwonde National park in Malawi. He is enjoying his food, his pool and interacting a bit with wild Hyena’s through the fence.

All very good news and this is exactly what everyone is hoping for. If the programme continues to go to plan, it won’t be too long before Usiku is released back into the wild where he will hopefully be welcomed into a wild clan of Hyena’s.

I will keep you posted on progress as and when I receive news from WERU (Wildlife Emergency Rescue Unit), who are managing the release programme. WERU is part of LWT (Lilongwe Wildlife Trust) in Malawi, one of the projects we are proud to be supporting. 

I managed to squeeze in a visit with my old ‘Big-Cat’ friends before I left Africa a few weeks ago.

Regular OATers may remember Simba and Bella… Simba’s rescue with Born Free in 2013 was the inspiration for the Olsen Animal Trust. He will always have a special place in our hearts.

They are happy and settled in their home. OAT have funded a new shelter and water troughs for them. The seem pretty happy with the results… they look so relaxed it’s hard to tell!

Managed to make time for a quick paddle in Lake Malawi… Beyond glorious!

Thanks Africa, you’ve been amazing!

I went back to Mnkhanya which is in the Luangwa Valley – Zambia to see how our support in this community project is making a difference and was really pleased with what I found!

15 x OAT  funded bikes arrived last week… Much excitement. 👍😀😀😀

These bicycles will enable the scouts to cover a much much wider area when looking for snares. This will save more animals lives.

Scouts in the OAT supplied uniforms … All looking very proud and ready to remove snares and hopefully catch poachers

This is little Usiku, a 1 year old hyena.

Usiku was born and very sadly abandoned by his mother when he was 1 day old. He was born into a clan of hyenas who lived in the city of Lilongwe which is the capital city of Malawi. Lilongwe have urban hyena clans who exist in the city much the same as foxes do in London. A year ago the whole clan had to be darted and relocated from the city to Liwonde National Park but young Usiku had to be left behind.  After 1 year in rehab at LWT (Lilongwe Wildlife Centre) Usiku was ready to undergo his release programme. Fortunately I was there at the time and was able to participate in the process.

When I visited his enclosure, he was in great condition and really excited… I reckon he knew he was on his way to freedom…

This is the LWT veterinary team sedating him before we transported him to his temporary enclosure in Kasungu National Park. He will stay in the enclosure for the next 2 months whilst he acclimatises. Hopefully wild hyenas will show interest in him and integrate him into their clan once he is released. He will need the assistance of another clan as he doesn’t have a mother to show him how to hunt or survive in the wild.

Once darted Usiku was given a full medical check and then collared. The satellite collar will allow the team to track his movements once he is released into the wild properly. After a year the collar will be electronically released and will simply fall off his neck.

OAT funded the release programme for Usiku which involved in relocating him from Lilongwe to Kusungu National Park plus the construction of his temporary enclosure in the park. Camera traps were strategically placed around the circumference of Usiku’s enclosure to enable the research team to monitor (remotely) the interaction between Usiku and wild hyenas.  This way they will know when the ideal time is to open the gate and allow him to socialise and run free with his own kind for the rest of his life. I will keep you posted on his progress!

www.lilongwewildlife.org

Good internet was hard to come by on my recent trip.  I am posting updates now from home (UK) and will post one update per day over the next few days. Here’s the first one:

A few weeks ago Cosmos rescued these Vervet monkeys. They have been named Jonathan and Sue… not sure why these names were chosen ?…..😀😀

One had a rope around his middle… it was so tight around his stomach it was preventing him from eating! Here are photos of the rope and of the cruel owner being arrested and charged. Keeping primates as pets in Zambia is illegal but people still seem to do it. This is all part of the Zambian Primate Project, lead by the amazing Cosmas, which OAT are very proud to be supporting.

Chunga is a community located in the Kafue National Park close to GRI’s (Game Rangers International) camp in Mukambi. GRI are one of the conservation projects we support in Zambia.

They suffer from Human – Wildlife conflict (elephants being the main problem) and GRI work closely with this community though their outreach programme.  I have brought load of footballs / netballs with me on this trip and this is one of the communities that were very grateful to receive some of them!