SINGAPORE \u2013 On July 2, Jing Lee the moon bear took its first steps in the sunshine after a life spent confined in a cramped cage.<\/p>\n
The bear is one of 27 moon bears removed from a bile farm in Laos by conservation charity Free the Bears. The effort was helmed by a team which included Singaporean Karthiriish Chandra.<\/p>\n
Jing Lee, named after a law enforcement officer in Laos who helped make the operation a reality, was freed by the charity<\/span><\/a> and the Laotian authorities in May from a foreign-owned, illegal bear bile farm, where the animals had spent years in metal cages.<\/p>\n Speaking to The Straits Times after the bears got their first taste of freedom at Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, Karthiriish said: \u201cThings that might seem simple or basic to us are completely new to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThey hadn\u2019t stood on solid, natural ground, climbed a tree, swum in a pool or even eaten hard vegetables since they were stolen from the wild as cubs.\u201d<\/p>\n At their new home, they can roam in a large forested enclosure with pools of water.<\/p>\n The bears, estimated to be between one and three years old, are learning how to use their teeth for the first time after being fed only cornmeal at the facility, he added.<\/p>\n They immediately began scanning and sniffing their new surroundings, he recalled. One adventurous bear quickly explored the climbing platform, while others scrutinised the plants as well as the keepers.<\/p>\n Since arriving at the sanctuary, the bears have received medical assessments, hydration and stable nutrition to reverse the deprivation they endured, said Karthiriish.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing trapped in tiny cages for so long causes their muscles to atrophy, so they need time and good nutrition to gently regrow those muscles,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Some of the 27 bears in the illegal bear bile farm in Laos.<\/p>\n PHOTO: FREE THE BEARS<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Despite one animal suffering a previous snare injury and missing a paw, the bears appear to be in good health, he said.<\/p>\n For the time being, 10 bears have been chosen to enter a forested enclosure because they did not exhibit any signs of aggression towards one another.<\/p>\n The remaining 17 will stay in the quarantine den until new enclosures are completed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are working as fast as we can to expand, and our teams are working seven days a week to get new houses opened for them,\u201d Karthiriish said.<\/p>\n The bears will grow much larger as they age, requiring more space to roam and to live in smaller social groups.<\/p>\n To date, more than US$200,000 (S$258,000) has been raised to fund the logistics behind the rescue effort and start work on their forest homes. This has also contributed to the more than 1,000kg of food that they eat weekly, among other things.<\/p>\n Providing proper care, including nutritious food, daily enrichment and expert veterinary treatment, can cost over US$150,000 per bear across its lifetime, according to Free the Bears.<\/p>\n Notwithstanding space and funding constraints, the charity\u2019s efforts continue. The team has already rescued another adult moon bear, four moon bear cubs and a sun bear cub in separate operations.<\/p>\n One of the rescued moon bears exploring its enclosure at Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary.<\/p>\n PHOTO: FREE THE BEARS<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Said Karthiriish: \u201cDue to the trauma (the 27 bears) have experienced and being taken from the wild in their formative years, these bears would not survive in the wild on their own. They will need sanctuary care for life.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we have a long road ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Those interested in contributing can do so at this website<\/span><\/a>, while those interested in sponsoring or adopting a bear can do so at this website<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 On July 2, Jing Lee the moon bear took its first steps in the sunshine after a life spent confined in a cramped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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