Bear bile tourism in Ha Long Bay has finally been closed down, thanks to the intensive enforcement campaigns led by Quang Ninh authorities, conducted since early 2014. The bear bile tourism industry in Ha Long Bay began around 2007, as six bear farms were established along the major route to one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam. The bear farms received bus-loads of mainly Korean tourists, who would witness the extraction of bile from a live bear before being encouraged to purchase bear bile and bear products, in violation of the law.  As a result, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism banned tourists from visiting bear farms, and after efforts over several years, four of the bear farms were closed. However, two remaining bear farms continued defy the law, selling bear bile to tourists.  In early 2014, the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee ordered the two remaining farms to close to tourists and established a taskforce to enforce the closure. The task force included representatives from a number of the provincial agencies including the Forest Protection Department, Environmental Police, The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as from Education for naturw Vietnam (ENV). Over several month-long periods, the task force conducted intensive monitoring at the two remaining bear farms. After a few buses were turned back during the initial weeks of the task force’s operation, long hours and a rigid seven day a week schedule paid off and both farms ceased operations completely. Since May of this year, no tourists have been observed at either of the two remaining bear farms and the Quang Ninh Forest Protection Department plans to continue to monitor these farms to ensure that bear bile tourism will not restart again in the future.

“The success of this campaign can be attributed to the commitment of the Quang Ninh authorities to address this cruel and illegal form of business once and for all, at the heart of Vietnam’s most prestigious tourist destination, Ha Long Bay,” said Ms. Nguyen Phuong Dung, ENV vice-director. 

“This marks the beginning of the end for the bear bile tourism industry in Vietnam,” says Dung.

The original report can be found on the ENV website, http://www.envietnam.org/index.php/topic/env-activities/638-bear-bile-tourism-finally-shut-down-in-ha-long

Alertis aims to phase out bear farming, in order to protect the bear population in the wild from extinction. Research has started to determine if bear farming for gall actually really threatens the bear population. Research is also done into alternatives for bear gall and the development of a better system in order to monitor populations in the wild. More information can be found on www.bearsinmind.org

Op woensdag 15 oktober ontvingen de beren in Het Berenbos in Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen een verrassingsmenu, een selectie wild waaronder haas, konijn en fazant. Deze prooidieren waren van papier maché, en speciaal gemaakt door BSO-kinderen van Kinderopvang Wageningen onder begeleiding van medewerkers van Ouwehands Dierenpark en Alertis. Om 15.00 uur startte het ‘voederen’.

De kunstig gemaakte dieren dienden natuurlijk niet ter decoratie. De vorm, kleuren en vermenging met honing zorgden ervoor dat de carnivoren geprikkeld werden om hun natuurlijk gedrag te vertonen. De beren ontvangen al een zeer speciaal dieet, dat ook nog eens gevarieerd wordt aangeboden, maar de papier maché dieren vormen een extra stimulans. Ouwehands Dierenpark heeft al eerder aan de leeuwen en de tijgers papier maché dieren aangeboden. Dit was een groot succes.

Onder begeleiding van avonturier Bamboo Bill (bekend van het TV-programma Ouwehands Jungleclub) gaven de BSO-kinderen de zelfgemaakte dieren een mooi plaatsje in Het Berenbos. Ze maakten de nepdieren voor de beren extra aantrekkelijk door er honing op te smeren, en daarna noten toe te voegen. Met een shovel werden de dieren hierna in Het Berenbos geplaatst, en mochten de beren op zoek gaan naar al dat lekkers. Dat lieten ze zich geen tweede keer zeggen! Vol enthousiasme werden de dieren soldaat gemaakt. Maria en Pesho pakten snel hun prooien en renden vervolgens weg naar een plek waar stil gegeten kon worden. Björna pakte het wat grondiger aan, en sloopte diverse dieren, waarna ze heerlijk lag te rollen tussen de resten. En Duuk en Diesel deden het heel voorzichtig en met beleid. Al met al smaakte deze dag naar meer…

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Animals Asia has announced that over 1,900 Chinese pharmacies have joined its Healing Without Harm programme – pledging to turn their backs on bear bile products. The news was released to the Chinese and international media at a press conference today (Monday, September 15^th, 2014) in China’s Hunan province.In the past year, the campaign has increased the number of bear bile free shops and pharmacies from around 260 in August 2013 to 1,945 today. Key new signees include chain pharmacies Hunan Yang Tian He Pharmacy Group (870 stores) and Hunan Qian Jin Pharmacy (372 stores), as well as pharmaceutical manufacturers Hunan Fang Sheng Pharmaceuticals and Changsha Qing Er Kang Biological Technology. Changsha Maria Hospital has also joined the campaign.

This year’s conference was organised by Animals Asia and the Hunan Drug Industry Trade Association, with the Changsha Wildlife Conservation Association as co-organiser. Pivotally, the conference was attended by the director of Changsha City’s Food and Drug Administration. This marks the first time the previously industry-only platform of Healing Without Harm has broadened to a governmental level, and is in-line with Animals Asia’s commitment to seek win-win solutions for all parties toward the goal of ending bear bile farming.

Animals Asia founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE said.  “We’re delighted that people are pushing to be a part of this campaign now. Healing Without Harm is a key part of our efforts to end bear bile farming and this initiative has seen an unprecedented rise in traditional medicine doctors and pharmacies supporting alternatives to the use and prescription of bile. It’s fundamentally important to reduce the market and the availability if more bears are going to be helped, and this is just what we are seeing here.”

More than 10,000 bears are still kept on bile farms in China in tiny cages. The bears regularly suffer painful bile extractions, as their bile is a prized ingredient in traditional medicine. Animals Asia’s Deputy Manager of the China Bear Programme Susan Xu said:

“Having contacted many pharmacies and pharmaceutical factories over the past year, we have been overwhelmed by the number who agreed to abandon bear bile products as they and their customers have come to know more about bear bile farming. 

“Increasingly pharmacies, traditional medicine practitioners and pharmaceutical leaders are interested in hearing more about the alternatives and no longer want to be a part of the bear bile industry. There is a real momentum behind the cause right now as awareness increases and more and more practitioners are supporting Healing Without Harm.”

While medical practitioners and pharmacists remain key recipients of the campaign’s message, demand for the products is also being reduced by awareness raising campaigns. Actor Zhang Yi is one of the latest big names to lend support. He starred in Healing Without Harm posters recently seen at Hangzhou Airport, which serves 23 million passengers annually. Jill Robinson added:

“Traditional medicine practitioners consistently tell us that bear bile farming is against the very ethos of traditional medicine which advocates harmony with nature. Every bile extraction causes unimaginable suffering for a bear, so fewer products on the shelves translates very simply into less pain. Every item containing bear bile cleared from a pharmacy’s shelves equals less cruelty.

“We thank all those people who are joining the campaign. What was a trickle has become a flood. So many people in China recognise that bear bile farming has had its day.”

Bear bile is extracted using various painful, invasive techniques, all of which cause massive infection in the bears. This practice continues despite the availability of a large number of effective and affordable herbal and synthetic alternatives. Most farmed bears are kept in tiny cages, sometimes so small that the bears are unable to turn around or stand on all fours. With the reckless use of antibiotics, bears can be made to endure these painful conditions for up to 30 years. Most farmed bears however are starved, dehydrated and suffer from multiple diseases and malignant tumours that ultimately kill them.

Animals Asia runs sanctuaries in China and Vietnam and has rescued over 500 bears including those at a bear bile farm in Nanning which it is also converting into a sanctuary.

Source: https://www.animalsasia.org/intl/media/news/news-archive/thousands-of-chinese-pharmacies-reject-bear-bile-products.html 

Kinderboekenschrijfster en ambassadeur van Alertis, Bibi Dumon Tak, is met het haar boek 'Bibi's doodgewone dierenboek' genomineerd voor de Jan Wolkers Prijs 2014. De illustraties bij dit boek zijn van Fleur van der Weel. Deze prijs voor het beste natuurboek is een initiatief van VARA’s Vroege Vogels, het Wereld Natuur Fonds en de Volkskrant. De nominaties zijn: ‘Planken Wambuis, wild en bijster land’ van P. Abels, M. Bosch, A. Crans, M. Frijns e.a., ‘De gierzwaluw’ van Remco Daalder, ‘De Wadden, een geschiedenis’ van Matthijs Deen, ‘Bibi’s doodgewone dierenboek’ van Bibi Dumon Tak en Fleur van der Weel en ‘Reizen tussen de lijnen; dwars door Indonesië met Alfred Russel Wallace’ van Alexander Reeuwijk. 

De winnaar wordt zondag 19 oktober, op de sterfdag van de naamgever, bekendgemaakt in het radioprogramma ‘Vroege Vogels’, van 07.00 tot 10.00 uur op NPO Radio 1. Dat gebeurt op de Dag van het Natuurboek in Museum Naturalis in Leiden, met volop lezingen, workshops, optredens en heel veel boeken (de toegang is gratis).  De jury van de Jan Wolkers Prijs bestaat uit Johan van de Gronden (directeur Wereld Natuur Fonds), Karina Wolkers, Jean-Pierre Geelen (de Volkskrant) en Joost Huijsing (eindredacteur ‘Vroege Vogels’).

De Jan Wolkers Prijs bestaat uit een geldbedrag van 5.000 euro en een originele tekening gemaakt door Siegfried Woldhek. De keus voor de naam Jan Wolkers Prijs was eenvoudig: in al het werk van Wolkers kom je natuur tegen, in zijn boeken, beeldende kunst en in zijn tuin op Texel, waar hij als televisiemaker prachtig over planten en dieren sprak. 



Vorig jaar won Simon van der Geest de eerste Jan Wolkers Prijs, voor het boek ‘Spinder’.

Bron: http://vroegevogels.vara.nl/Nieuws-detail.1006.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=370039&cHash=c61bd03af40c6d2c74c2f8c0ad785fdd 

Police in the central city of Vinh say they're looking for a bus passenger who dropped a bag containing 22 severed bear limbs packed in ice. At around 2:15 p.m. on August 27, a group of traffic police noticed a coach bearing a Lao license plate stopping in Thanh Chuong District to drop off a passenger. Just as the officers were reaching the scene to conduct a routine inspection, the passenger suddenly took off, leaving his luggage on the sidewalk.

Police recovered the arms and legs, which they described as having been packed into two separate bags and smelling strongly despite all the ice. The illegal wildlife meat was brought to the district police station for further investigations.

“We are awaiting the results of tests being conducted on the limbs and hunting for their owner”, Nguyen Dinh Anh, deputy head of the district police. 

Source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/police-in-vietnam-seek-the-owner-of-22-severed-bear-limbs-30568.html

David Spratt, author of Climate Code Red: The case for emergency action, focuses in this report on seven myths about the quick global warming. He compares these myths with recent scientific studies.

His conclusion is tough; immediate extreme measures to stop the emission of dangerous greenhouse gasses like CO2 are needed, otherwise it is simply too late. The report can be downloaded here.

David Spratt, schrijver van Climate Code Red: The case for emergency action, neemt in dit artikel zeven mythes met betrekking tot de snelle opwarming van de aarde onder de loep. Dit zet hij af tegen de meest recente wetenschappelijke studies.

Zijn conclusie is keihard en geeft aan dat er onmiddellijk drastische maatregelen moeten worden genomen om de uitstoot van schadelijke gassen zoals CO2 terug te dringen, omdat het anders simpelweg te laat is. Het rapport kunt u hier downloaden.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 21st August 2014—A new TRAFFIC analysis of hundreds of seizures sounds the alarm on Asia’s ongoing widespread bear trade and the need for immediate international action.

The findings are published in Brought to Bear: an Analysis of Seizures across Asia (2000–2011) (PDF, 1.1 MB) which studied bear seizures made over a 12-year period in 17 countries and territories across Asia and found that a staggering illegal trade in bears and their parts persists in the region. 

The analysis of close to 700 seizures revealed that a minimum of 2,801 individual bears would have been traded for their parts and derivatives between 2000 and 2011. The majority of reported seizures involved Cambodia (190), China (145), Viet Nam (102), Russia (59), Malaysia (38), Thailand (29), Lao PDR (29) and India (23). Bears are traded for a wide range of reasons including live bears to stock bile farms and for the pet or dancing bear trade. Bears are also trafficked for their parts, meat, skins and trophies while their gall bladders and bile are used to manufacture traditional medicines. 

The cross-border trade in live bears, and their parts and derivatives violates national laws throughout the region as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  Russia and China alone accounted for 69% of the trade volume equating to a minimum of 1,934 bears, primarily due to the seizure of over 6,000 bear paws. Such significant seizures in Russia and along the border with China suggest a prolific trade in bears and their parts between the two countries.   

Important cross border trade routes identified by the analysis include Nepal to India, Lao PDR to Viet Nam and China, Myanmar to China and Thailand and Viet Nam to Japan and Singapore. The confiscation of live bears accounted for 15% of all seizures, making it the second most commonly seized commodity after paws.  Significant source countries for live bears included Cambodia and Viet Nam. Live bears seized from border provinces in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand were potentially en route to bear bile extraction facilities, commonly referred to as bear farms. 

Significant numbers of gall bladders, commonly used as traditional medicine were also seized.  The demand for medicines containing bear bile in Asia is high, driving the trade, and playing a role in the decline of bears in many parts of the Asian region.  

“The number of seizures are a credit to the enforcement agencies, but they undoubtedly only stop a fraction of the overall trafficking because bear products are still widely and easily available across Asia,” said Dr Chris R. Shepherd, Regional Director of TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.  

The report recommends that CITES authorities and Parties to the Convention closely examine the latest findings take appropriate steps to assist countries where required, and take a firm stance with countries not complying with the Convention. It calls for improved regional law enforcement efforts, the consistent submission of seizure reports to CITES and for the closure of bear farms stocked with illegally-sourced wild bears. The report also highlights the success of national level, co-ordinated, collaborative efforts such as Cambodia’s Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team in addressing illegal bear trade and recommends that such initiatives be replicated in countries of concern to address threats to bears properly.  

“Where enforcement of laws protecting bears is taken seriously, it can be a tremendous deterrent”, said Shepherd.

Source: http://www.traffic.org/home/2014/8/21/parts-of-2800-bears-seized-in-asia-over-a-12-year-period.html

Beren worden in Zuidoost Azië in een alarmerend tempo gestroopt. Dit blijkt uit een nieuw rapport van TRAFFIC. Uit gegevens van inbeslagnames over een periode van 12 jaar blijkt dat minstens 2800 beren zijn gedood en zouden eindigen in de soep of als zogenaamd medicijn gemaakt van berengal. Dit zijn echter nog maar de onderschepte transporten met beren of delen van beren, het werkelijke aantal beren dat gedood wordt is waarschijnlijk vele malen hoger.

Alertis werkt samen met de IUCN Bear Specialist Group (BSG) en de Chinese overheid om erachter te komen wat nu precies de gevolgen zijn op de wilde beren populatie, van met name het gebruik van beren in de galboerderijen. Meer informatie over dit project.

Het originele artikel is te vinden op de TRAFFIC website:
http://www.traffic.org/home/2014/8/21/parts-of-2800-bears-seized-in-asia-over-a-12-year-period.html
 

Op 28 juli nam José Kok, directeur van Alertis, een waarderings award in ontvangst voor Het Berenbos. De award werd uitgereikt door Zoo Actueel, een onafhankelijke nieuwsbron waar dierentuinen centraal staan. De award is een teken van waardering voor Alertis en Ouwehands Dierenpark, die al vanaf 1993 Het Berenbos runnen. Zoo Actueel is blij dat er in Nederland zo'n prachtig instituut als Het Berenbos bestaat, en roemt naast het dierenwelzijn ook het educatieve aspect van Expeditie Berenbos, maar ook de inspanningen wereldwijd om beren te beschermen.

Meer hierover leest u op de site van Zoo Actueel.