We could smell him before we saw him. A bear on a farm in Shandong that had lay in a crush cage, by the farmers' own admission, for 30 years of his life. 

Oliver was rotting away in front of our eyes, and slowly dying too after we realised that the "full metal jacket" he had been wearing had been ripped off his body, along with a latex catheter that snaked into his gall bladder and had been milking him of his bile. The bear farmer had not wanted us to see the crude iron corset, which was against China's bear farming regulations, and so had torn it from Oliver's body, just before we had arrived to rescue him and nine other bears.

Such is the life of a bear on a farm in China, and this is the reality for 7000 ++ moon bears (so-called because of the beautiful lemon crescent moon of fur on their chests) and a few brown bears like Oliver.  Across Asia, particularly in China, Vietnam, South Korea, Myanmar and Laos, about 15,000 bears are caged, starved and cruelly milked of bile despite the numerous herbal and synthetic alternatives available.

The long journey home by road on that memorable day in April 2010, saw Oliver's condition deteriorating to the extent that our then Veterinary Director, Heather Bacon and current vet Monica Bando declared he was close to death and needed emergency surgery.

To cut a long story short, our amazing Chinese colleagues miraculously found a police convoy to guide us through a long traffic jam to the local human hospital where the staff had been prepped for our arrival and were only too willing to help a member of the ursine species by providing some much-needed equipment.  Four hours later, after the most incredible surgery on the back of a truck in cold and rainy weather, Oliver's badly damaged gall bladder (and metal disc holding it in place) was removed. Within minutes, his blood pressure, heart and respiratory rates had all stabilised and we could do nothing except keep everything crossed that he survived the four-day, 2,400km journey and made it safely home.
 

Today, 15 months later, back at our rescue centre, old arthritic Oliver is enjoying life in a snug warm den, and exploring a natural grassy enclosure, with all the delights of a swimming pool, bear sized toys and the warm summer sun on his back.  We have no idea how long he has left considering that the life-span of a bear is about 30 years in the wild, but we do know that, for the first time in three decades, our old broken bear has meaning to his days, and a family who loves him to the moon, and back.

Jill Robinson MBE
Founder & CEO

Watch Oliver's YouTube film below.