Every bear I treat is an individual. They feel pain, joy and they make choices
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Version 0 of 1. The trucks arrive, everyone is silent but poised and ready to help transform these beautiful bears’ lives from misery to opportunity. They arrive on the trays of trucks, jammed into tiny cages, with their eyes sunken, their wounds bleeding and their teeth rotten. My task as one of Animals Asia’s veterinarians in China is to assess the damage. It is a triage like no other. Over time and with patience, some of the bears that arrive will finally go on to feel grass under their feet, some for the first time in 20 or 30 years. Each bear that comes into our care is an individual. They have a name. They have a personality. All of our medical attention is focused and tailored to the individual and how best to ensure the physical and mental needs of that individual. This may mean dental procedures to remove broken or rotten teeth, eye examinations to check for evidence of cataracts, abdominal surgery to remove damaged and diseased gall bladders and radiographs to document and appropriately treat the arthritis that develops from years of confinement. Our ultimate aim is to end bear bile farming, but that means ending the exploitation and suffering of each individual bear. It’s important to remember this and to be focused on this as a vet, so that the welfare of each animal is at the centre of everything I do. Like so many issues with the use of animals by humans, the individual is forgotten. You have only to look upon a bear to see his or her personality. Each bear shows different preferences in play and food, has different social groups, and chooses differently how to spend their day. We know these animals are sentient, we know they have emotions and thoughts. We know they are frustrated and bored being confined to small cages by the damage to their bodies from the constant rocking back and forth, rubbing on metal bars, or the grinding of the teeth from chewing on the bars. For me, the work is more than helping to heal wounds – it is helping to change attitudes. Education and empowerment is bringing about a change in China and Vietnam. The work that Animals Asia does to stop bear bile farming is not about sentiment and emotional blackmail; the science tells us that there is no need for this industry. There are many alternatives, including from within the Chinese medicine pharmacopeia, a plant called Coptis. Animals are sentient, they do feel pain and they do suffer. They choose. They feel joy and sorrow. These notions go far beyond bear bile farming and into the treatment of animals in captivity, treatment of animals at slaughter, and even the treatment of our pets, or “companion” animals. In its simplest form, I have witnessed this from year to year with the house guard dogs in the dwellings around the bear sanctuary. I’ve seen a dog transition from a tethered being – without access to water or shelter – to a companion of the house, who is walked and bathed but still gladly guards his companions. This is happening one individual at a time and I get to be a small part of it as a bear vet working in China. I’ve also been happy to help build relationships with local vets so that the knowledge of our team can be shared. It is through these collaborations that we gain cultural understanding and, at times, hear of the limitations that they’re dealing with. Together, we try and forge paths forward. These collaborations globally have seen bears’ vision returned after cataract surgery and laparoscopic surgery employed to minimise tissue damage done in captivity. Most recently, orthopaedic specialists in Hong Kong have used a 3D printer to help repair the fractured elbow of a bear called Claudia. Being a bear vet is the greatest job I have ever had, it has helped me to be a better vet, a better person and hopefully a better teacher. |