For 17 years this bear has been living in solitary confinement trapped in a tiny metal cage deprived of sunlight, while being farmed for bile.
He is one of nine which have physical scars and even missing limbs, after a life of suffering for this cruel and painful, but legal, extraction for use in traditional Asian medicine.
However, earlier this month they were saved from their prison hell by the charity Four Paws – their biggest rescue to date – to live out their lives in a sanctuary which is home to nearly 50 saved bears.
In the past, bear bile was obtained by hunting bears in the wild and killing them to remove their gall bladders.
It would have been a particularly rare and prized ingredient and used sparingly for specific medical conditions.
But in the 1980s, the practice of keeping a bear for the duration of its life to constantly extract bile began, and bear bile farms sprang up across Asia.
The bile is used to treat liver and bladder conditions in traditional Chinese medicine, but it’s also marketed as a cure for everything from cancer to colds.
There is no scientific evidence to suggest that it has any effect and according to recent official numbers, at least 10,000 bears are currently kept on bile farms in Asia.
Experts say the extraction of bear bile from live bears causes unimaginable physical and psychological suffering and long-term health problems.
The Asiatic black bears called Vui, Nui, An, Teo, Tai, Tin, Khoi, Danh, and Thi were rescued from three separate bear bile farms in Binh Duong province in southern Vietnam.
This species is native to that country but on the brink of local extinction because of poaching and the illegal wildlife trade where demand for their parts remains high.
After travelling nearly 1,000 miles in a journey that took 42-hours, the bears are now being cared for at a sanctuary in the Binh Duong province.
Sonul Badiani-Hamment, Four Paws’ UK Country Director, said he was “proud” of the rescue but said that there are many bears still in farms which are suffering a “life of misery”.
He added: “The remaining bears in Vietnam still have a chance at a better life, but only if all province authorities are fully committed to finally ending bear bile farming.”
