The Asian Animal Foundation yesterday launched the first semi-wild reserve for bears in Vietnam with an area of 5,000 square meters in the Dau Dau valley (Tam Dao National Park - Vinh Phuc).
According to the plan, the whole center has an area of 12ha, but this double bear house is only 2 out of 10 semi-natural bear farms (each area includes a 2,500m2 wide campus with 1 bear breeding house with 12 bear cubes) and 2 special care areas.
Once completed, this US $ 3.5 million center is capable of receiving and taking care of about 200 to 250 bears.
Currently, the Center has 35 employees, including a team of foreign veterinary specialists specializing in tending bears. Moving forward, when expanding, the center needs about 100 people.
Despite the iron fences, the entire fence area was equipped with wires to prevent bears from climbing out. The bears are divided into two separate sections for bear and dog bears, with a semi-natural campus to encourage bear's natural activity.
Center staff measure electricity at the fence before releasing bears to the playground area.
Visitors can stand looking from outside.
Currently, 24 bears are fed up illegally to get bile saved here. As soon as the quarantine period ends, bears will be taken into care with the semi-wild campus to climb, play and restore physical strength. After a period of care and treatment, the bears began to get fat.
However, when seeing a stranger, the bear ran away.
Each day, bears eat about 2kg of vegetables, fruits and 0.5kg of dry food. Cold fruits are often hung from trees to attract bears.
The bear bear (also known as the moon bear because it has a semicircle in the chest) is very fond of honey and can smell bile from about 5 km. This bear likes water, is good at swimming but also very good at climbing. Male bears can be 2 meters tall and weigh more than 200 kg.
After eating, they play, climb up the trees, stems .
And the dog bear (or Malayan sun bear due to the golden horseshoe on the chest) specializes in night life. With small stature (male height of 1.5 meters, weighing 70 kg), dog bears adapt to life on trees. This bear has a great sense of smell, a 10cm long claw and a funny long tongue to get honey from the honeycomb.
Vietnam Bear Rescue Center said it will act as an education center to raise awareness about bear conservation and care in Vietnam, hoping that 4,000 illegally farmed bears to get bile in Vietnam will be release.
