16 Precious Moon Bear Cubs Rescued From a Home in Laos
An Australian wildlife protection group has lots to celebrate after they saved and rescued 16 Asiatic Black Bear cubs from a home in Luang Prabang, Laos. The group, called Free the Bears, say the home belonged to a wildlife poacher who hoped to use the cubs as fodder for a bile farm. Thankfully they found the cubs before the worst happened and have since brought the cubs somewhere where they could be safe.
Life has changed overnight for the cubs, who now receive constant care and attention from local and international conservationists.
According to Reuters, Free the Bears works with local communities and governments across Asia to protect the Asiatic Black Bear (or moon bear, as they are also known because of their distinctive markings), as well as sun bears, which are also at risk across Southeast Asia. But nothing could've prepared them for what they found during a raid in the house of a Chinese national last March.
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On the day of the raid, neighbors heard the cubs crying from within the home and called Laos police. When police arrived at the property they found the 16 bear cubs inside what appeared to be a bear bile farm scheme, a practice where bile is extracted from a bear's gallbladder to later be used in traditional Chinese medicine. It is legal to do in China, but illegal in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other countries.
Police said there was one additional cub found on the premises, but it died before authorities could remove the cubs from the home.
"When we arrived at the house there were bear cubs everywhere," Fatong Yang, animal manager with the charity, told France 24. In total, they found 10 male cubs and six females. The cubs each weighed between 1.3 to four kilograms and were believed to be about two to four months old.
"Cubs this small are extremely vulnerable. In the wild their mothers would never leave them and we suspect the mothers were killed by poachers," Yang explained.
Matt Hunt, head of Free the Bears, said they'll be bringing in experts from Cambodia to help them care for the cubs, as this is the largest rescue they've seen.
"This is the most bears we've rescued in a single year and we're only three months into 2024," he said. The bears have since been transported to the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary.
Hunt told Reuters they're also debating expanding their play, housing and veterinary facilities to accommodate all of the cubs. He added that the cubs are currently being bottle fed and will stay at their sanctuary until they are big enough to survive on their own.
"[I was] so happy sixteen of the seventeen are alive," he told France 24, "and have a second chance to live a life free from fear and suffering".
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