It is a species in danger. Five Asian black bears, trapped in cages in Laos, were rescued last week and placed in a shelter, said the NGO "Free the bears" on Monday.
According to the NGO, this is the largest rescue in one day by the association, based in Australia, since its inception in 1995.
The bears "are doing well"
They were detained in Luang Namyha province, a remote area of the country near the Chinese border. Three were in a paper factory, two were on a cassava plantation and the other was in private homes.
The cubs were weak because they had been mostly fed with rice porridge, but they "are doing well," said NGO spokesperson Rod Mabin, who has already saved eleven bears this year in Laos. The cubs will stay in quarantine for a month in a shelter in Luang Prabang, then they will be placed in a pen.
The bile of bears sold at a golden price
In Asia, especially in China, thousands of bears are immobilized in narrow cages, the abdomen perforated by a catheter or fistula connected to their gall bladder to collect bile. The latter is sold at a golden price for the many therapeutic qualities that are lent to it, often wrongly. It is especially supposed to help regulate cholesterol or dissolve gallstones and kidneys.
Vietnam and Laos have banned this practice, but despite this, this lucrative business persists. The species is also at risk due to the reduction of its habitat. Laos, bordering China and Vietnam, is a hub in the global wildlife trade.