We are very excited to announce the release of our first workbook for students. The "Ura's Dream" workbook is to be released at the beginning of December and is designed to allow children to learn much more about the animals featured in John Walker's book- Ura's Dream.

John has collaborated with Shawn Morrissey- to produce this fascinating teachers aid. Shawn is a naturalist originally from Canada who has profound knowledge on wildlife and who has taught in Korean schools for many years.

Please join us in celebrating the release of the workbook and if you would like to order copies along with Ura's Dream please email us and we will arrange it. g.moon@moonbears.org

For teacher's reference: www.uraworkbook.wordpress.com

SBS News

On Nov 30 around 2pm, a bear was spotted at a construction site in Kyunggi-do, Hwasung city. Emergency unit 119 responded to a call to discover approx 4 to 5years old bear with 1.25metre weighing 54kg . The bear was shot by dart gun and transferred to a nearby vets clinic where he didn't survive the trauma.

This is another case of an escaped farmed bear seeking his freedom from a life of agony who has lost his life.

There are 21 farms in Seoul and Kyonggi area keeping more than 350 moon bears in captivity. The city of Hwasung and its environment department are in search of the bear farm the bear escaped from.

By reporter Kim, Soo Young swim@sbs.co.kr

Read more in Korean:
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=102&oid=055&aid=0000217594

Other news shows last year alone the government collected over 600 traps from the wild.
Jirisan moon bear restoration centre reports it's lost over 14 moon bears to these traps and 3 of bears have been permanently destroyed.

Read more in Korean:
http://news.sbs.co.kr/section_news/news_read.jsp?news_id=N1001032964

'A World Without Pain'

A charity concert by a team of talented entertainers was held at Rolling Hall Hong Dae, Seoul, Korea to celebrate World Animal Day.

The special day was celebrated through hard work in all kind of unexpected ways- including a meeting with a group from Hong Kong saving Buffalo in the New Territory, Hong Kong. In addition there was a message sent to officials in the port city of Ulsan strongly opposing their announced plans to begin whale meat processing that city. This is the richest city in Korea so it makes no sense.

Also the special time was celebrated in song and entertainment with a special concert to raise both fund and awareness.The concert promoted vegan campaigns along with a strong message to the public about the importance of the animals around us. The CEO band played some powerful numbers to show the support of even some leading members of the business community in Korea. There were also folk musicians, B Boy dancers and children's choirs. There was special focus on the inhumane slaughter of pigs during recent foot and mouth outbreaks and a highlighting of the plight of framed moon bears in Korea.

We also announced a special work book to help study Korea animals in junior schools which will be published in December this year. A feature again this year was the broad cross section of the community participating in activities which means our message is becoming more mainstream.

Reporter: "Just near an apartment block in the town of Koyang in Kyongi province Korea there is an apparent dear farm. However this is actually a front for a large bear farm that has over 50 moon bears.

A local reporter visited the farm pretending to be a customer and indicating he wanted to buy some bear bile. The farmer took him inside and fired at one of the bears with a dart gun. The bear began to round around in extreme pain but then after 10 minutes of this agony collapsed. The farmer was trying to show that his product was the freshest coming from a live bear.

After the bear collapsed the farmer produced a very large syringe- about as long as an middle finger and with his ultra sound mechanism located the bears gall bladder and roughly pushed the syringe in and began drawing out the dark green bile. He was feeling generous and told the reporter he would give him extra bile so there would be a total of 120 to 130cc. 100cc costs about 5,000 USD.

This barbaric, but unfortunately typical, farmer was reported to the police and charged".

AsiaOne
Friday, Aug 05, 2011

The bears were kept in a farm located in a remote area in the North-West of China. The bears on the farm had their gall bladders milked daily for 'bear bile,' which is used as a remedy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

It was reported that the bears are kept in tiny cages known as 'crush cages', as the bears have no room to manoeuvre and are literally crushed.

The bile is harvested by making a permanent hole or fistula in the bears' abdomen and gall bladder.

As the hole is never closed, the animals are suspect to various infections and diseases including tumours, cancers and death from peritonitis.

The bears are fitted with an iron vest, as they often try to kill themselves by hitting their stomach as they are unable to bear the pain.

A person who was on the farm in place of a friend witnessed the procedures and told Reminbao.com that they were inhumane.

The witness also claimed that a mother bear broke out its cage when it heard its cub howl in fear before a worker punctured its stomach to milk the bile.

The workers ran away in fear when they saw the mother bear rushing to its cub's side.

Unable to free the cub from its restraints, the mother hugged the cub and eventually strangled it.

It then dropped the cub and ran head-first into a wall, killing itself.

Many TCM practitioners have denounced the use of bear bile in their treatment as there are cheaper herbs and synthetics that can be used in its place.

Bear bile is traditionally used to remove 'heat' from the body as well as treat high fever, liver ailments and sore eyes.


- The Korea Times: Mother bear commits suicide after killing her baby in China

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/09/182_94026.html

- The Kyunghyang Shinmun: 中 어미곰, 새끼곰 살해 뒤 스스로 목숨끊어

http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201108291440121&code=970211

중국의 한 농가에서 어미곰이 새끼곰을 죽이고 자신도 스스로 목숨을 끊는 사건이 벌어졌다. 28일 ‘런민바오’ 등 중국 현지 언론에 따르면 최근 중국 북서부 외곽의 한 농가는 곰의 쓸개즙을 채취하고자 몇 마리의 곰을 포획해 ‘크러시 케이지’로 알려진 좁은 우리에 기르고 있었다.
사고 당일에도 이 농가는 우리에 갇혀있는 새끼곰에 살아있는 채로 고무호스를 삽입해 쓸개즙을 빼내려했다.

하지만 새끼곰이 고통 속에 비명을 지르자 어떻게 알았는지 근처에 갇혀 있던 어미곰이 우리를 부수고 빠져나왔으며 새끼곰이 있는 쪽으로 달려왔다. 작업원은 공포에 휩싸여 그대로 도망쳐버렸다.
인근에 있던 목격자는 “달려온 어미곰은 새끼곰의 우리를 부수려했으나 여의치않자 아기곰을 끌어안은 뒤 질식시켜 죽였다”고 전했다. 또 새끼곰이 죽자 자신도 벽에 머리를 부딪혀 죽은 것으로 전해졌다.

이같은 사실은 목격자에 의해 지역 매체 등에 전해졌다. 소식이 알려지자 환경운동 단체들은 “산 채로 곰의 쓸개즙을 빼내는 잔인한 행위를 그만둬야 한다”며 당국의 관심을 촉구했다.

In February 2011, TM shops were surveyed in the Republic of Korea. Of the 61 shops surveyed in Daegu, Seoul and Seoungnam;, 26 sold bear bile, primarily in whole gall bladder form

Bear bile products observed in TM shops in the Republic of Korea animals suffer today.

Over 50% of the gall bladders found in Korean TM shops were claimed to be of Russian origin; 38% were claimed to be from China and 7% were claimed to be domestically sourced. Ten of the 26 shops (38%) reported a steady demand for bear bile and the majority of shops (77%) said that their customers would not consider alternative products.

Source:
http://www.traffic.org/home/2011/5/11/illegal-bear-bile-trade-rampant-in-asia.html

The bear bile Trade in Asia-
http://prezi.com/y_mqfj2c8acx/the-bear-bile-trade-in-asia/

The Asia for Animals conference held from 10-14 June was a truly fabulous event that saw over 350 delegates from 25 countries across the world joining together for the first time in Chengdu, China, to address and create solutions for the problems faced by animals across the Asian continent.

Through a series of panels and sessions, speakers and delegates were encouraged to "think outside of the box", a theme pioneered by main sponsor Gil Michaels, President of Animal Guardians, whose personal passion focuses on creatively ending pain and cruelty that too many animals suffer today.

The conference, held at the Kempinski, kicked off with a lion dance, welcome speeches and a special appearance by the "Madonna of Asia" superstar, singer and actress, Karen Mok. Surprise guests of honour, Animals Asia's very own Dr Dogs, showed that the best doctors in the world have wet noses and wagging tails, by providing some much-needed animal therapy to all the delegates before the conference officially began. The first day saw a wonderful round of workshops, followed by the next three days of sessions featuring dynamic speakers from across the world, and finally a tour of Animals Asia's sanctuary to meet some very special bears.

Please visit the Asia for Animals website http://www.asiaforanimals.org/ where more information and the conference presentations have been posted. The conference was co-ordinated and hosted by Animals Asia, and generously sponsored by Animal Guardians, Animal People, Best Friends USA, Compassion in World Farming, Humane Society International, International Animal Rescue, International Fund for Animal Welfare, UK's RSPCA, SPCA (HK) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals. (From Jill's Blog)

Ms Soyeon Park from CARE (Co-existence of Animal Rights on Earth)

Ms Park has brought remarkable changes to Korea's animals as she operates in one of the most problematic countries in the world for animal welfare. The group Ms Park founded has grown to be one of the biggest and most active organsiations in Korea with over 60,000 members. Ms Park and her team rescued a number of animals abandoned and wounded when the North Korean bombing of Yeonpyung Island took place in November 2010, which saw 99% of the islanders fleeing to the mainland. Thanks to Ms Park, the Korean Animal Protection law is now strengthened significantly with increased fines and jail terms and the welfare of animals in Korea significantly improved as a result of her work.

We here at moonbears.org are happy to announce our plans to attend the remarkable AFA conference in Chengdu, China, this month.

We are accompanying our fellow animal organization, CARE, that has over 70,000 local supporters. The founder of CARE, Ms Park So Yeon, will be presenting on the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Korea showing footage taken with an undercover camera of barbaric behaviour by Korean officials.

The presentation details are shown below:

The focus will simply but intensely, highlight cruelty and abuse and call on delegates and attendees to engage together in inspirational and practical approaches showing how suffering and cruelty in all aspects of animal exploitation can end. 

1. Humane behaviour change: Moving the education focus from awareness to facilitating change; Elodie Guillon, WSPA, South East Asia 
2. Conservation Education as a tool for protecting Giant Panda habitat and minority cultures in rural southwest China; Li Ying & Sarah M. Bexell, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding 
3. Spreading Ideas of Compassion among Chinese College Students ; Professor Sun Jiang, Northwest University of Politics and Law 
4. How did the Dalian animal protection organisations successfully enter the university campus: the results and prospects; Yu Hongmei, PET100 
5. Challenges in animal welfare and veterinary education; Dr Heather Bacon, Veterinary Welfare and Education Outreach Manager, University of Edinburgh - Animals Asia Foundation 
6. Cry from animals and historical responsibility of journalists; Zhang Dan, China Journalist Salon for Protecting Animals 
7. Media promotion for animal protection; Liu Huili, Da Er Wen Nature Knowledge Society 
8. Working with the enemy; Daniel Turner, Senior Operations Officer, Born Free Foundation 
9. TITLE TBC; Lucky Wu, Animals Asia Foundation 
10. Strengthen the Consciousness of Animal Protection among the Younger Generation of China; Chen Qian, Swiss Animal Protection Organization 

1. Campaigning creatively for the welfare of zoo animals; Louis Ng, ACRES 
2. Chinese Zoos in the 21st Century: The Role of China Association of Zoological Gardens; Mm. Xie Zhong, Deputy Secretary General, China Association of Zoological Gardens 
3. Tackling cruelty within captivity, and improving the welfare of captive animals through enrichment, innovative enclosure design and improved animal management; Nicola Field, Vet & Bear Team Manager, Animals Asia Foundation 
4. Effective primate enrichment through international collaboration and local empowerment: an Indonesian case study; James Robins, Care for Orang-utan Protection/Orang-utan Appeal UK 
5. Stereotypic Behaviours in Captive Elephants; Sumolya Kanchanapangka, Faculty of Veterinary Science Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 
6. The importance of constrictive zoo assessment; Daniel Turner, Senior Operations Officer, Born Free Foundation

1. Educating the public about our conditionings and how we can change them; Dr Nanditha Shah, SHARAN - Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature 
2. Deciphering Darkness; Venkata Sai Sriram Vepuir, Blue Cross of Hyderabad, India 
3. Compassion for Animals in Chinese Traditional Culture; Professor Mang Ping, Beijing’s Central Institute of Socialist Studies 

1. The Historical Development and Future of Legislation for Animal Welfare in China; Prof Song Wei , Law Institute, University of Science and Technology of China. 
2. Stalemate - when animals fall foul of political inertia; Dr Fiona Woodhouse, Deputy Director (Welfare) SPCA HK 
3. Anti-animal cruelty legislation needs enlightenment of education; Prof Zhang Shijun, Associate Professor, School of Law, Shandong University

1. Training of Mainland Chinese Veterinarians to Better Understand Principles of Human Care of Laboratory Animals; DK Rowlands, Scientific Officer, Laboratory Animal Services Centre Chinese University of Hong Kong 
2. Laws of Asia do not Adequately Protect the Welfare of Animals in Research; Anthony E James, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Director of Lab, Animal Services Centre 
3. Ending Toxicity Testing on Animals in the 21st Century; Andrew Rowan, CEO, Humane Society International 
4. Best practice and alternatives to animal experiments in education and training; Nick Jukes, InterNICHE 

1. A “harmonious society” needs to end factory farming for the sake of animals, people and the planet; Jeff Zhou, Compassion in World Farming 
2. How inhumane livestock conditions and burying alive affect foot-and-mouth disease; So-Yeon Park, CARE - Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth 
3. Slaughter industry in Asia and the importance of humane slaughter programmes; Rasto Kolesar, Jia Zili, JinJuan Sun, WSPA 
4. How we can work together to end battery cages in egg production; Nuggehalli Jayasimha, Humane Society International 
5. Empowering consumers through product labelling; David Neale, Political Co-ordinator (volunteer), British Hen Welfare Trust/Animal Welfare Director, Animals Asia Foundation 
6. TITLE TBC; Professor Tengxiaohua, Northeast Agricultural University, Vice dean of animal technology department. 
7. TITLE TBC; Professor Zhaoxingbo, Professor at China Agricultural University 
8. TITLE TBC; Professor Wangqian, Chief editor of Livestock and Poultry Magazine 

1. Bear Truth" - Complexities of Bear Conservation in India; Kartick Satyanarayan, Wildlife SOS/International Animal Rescue 
2. Threatened species have no extra time: Shubhobroto Ghosh, TRAFFIC, India 
3. Exposing the Dolphin Trade in the Solomon Islands: Mark Berman, Associate Director, Earth Island Institute 
4. Tackling the trade in wild animals for food, medicine and clothing, solutions and successes; Crystal Wang, IFAW, Beijing 
5. Complete conservation procedure of wild animals in Thailand; Thanaphat Payakkaporn The Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand 
6. Saving wild raptors in Beijing; Guoliang (Gavin) Tang (Kati Loeffler), Beijing Raptor Centre (IFAW) 
7. Primate trade in Indonesia; Karmele Llano Sanchez, International Animal Rescue 
8. Urban Animal Planet ; SongChun, Beijing Forestry University, China 
9. Questions and Reflections of Shark Protection; Jet Zang, Hainan Zhibang Wild Animals Protection Center 
10. Welfare advantages of minimally invasive assessment of abdominal disease in Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) rescued from bile farming; Romain Pizzi, Free the Bears & Royal Zoological Society of Scotland 
11. Human Elephant Co-existence - Elephant resistant crops buffer economic loss to elephant damage; Deepani Jayantha, Born Free Foundation, Sri Lanka 
12. Macro Parasites: Management considerations for the rehabilitator; Dr Jonathan Cracknell, Wildlife Anaesthesia Service 
13. Using an ethnoprimatological approach to aid in the understanding of the human-macaque conflict in Muara Angke, Indonesia; Dr Sharmini Julita , International Animal Rescue 
14. "Gods in Chains" Elephant welfare efforts in India; Geeta Seshamani, Wildlife SOS/International Animal Rescue 
15. The bear bile trade in East and SE Asia; Chris Shepherd, TRAFFIC 
16. Mandarin duck conservation at Beijing Zoo; Zhang Jingguo and Cui Duoying, Beijing Zoo 
17. Interim Relief Scheme to reduce man-animal conflict in and around Corbett Tiger Reserve; Kedar Gore, The Corbett Foundation 
18. The Tipping Point - no retreat, no surrender in campaign against bear farming; Jill Robinson, Toby Zhang, Tuan Bendixsen, Animals Asia

1. Socially responsible pet ownership - the trials and tribulations of achieving social harmony between people and companion animals; Dr Fiona Woodhouse, Deputy Director (Welfare), SPCA HK 
2. Reducing the number of homeless animals from the source; Chen Qian, The Home of Love 
3. Matters of principle in animal shelter; face to the welfare of animals are kept in captivity; to build a home for the street animals ; Ha Wenjin , Nanjing Ping’an A Fu Homeless Animals Rescuing Center 
4. Alternatives to animal shelters; Sarah Vallentine , WSPA 
5. TITLE TBC; Nanjing PSB. Yang Hengbao, head of dog management office, NPD and Wu Jiasheng, Head of NPD dog shelter. 
6. Moving forward to Yushu on Apr.14, 2010; Jiang Hong, Xi’an Red Pomegranate Companion Animal Rescue Center 
7. Ending the inhumane culling of dogs (and cats); Sarah Vallentine , WSPA & Dr Baburam Gautam, Kathmandu Metropolitan City & Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre 
8. What can we do to save Chinese rural dog in suffering; Du Yufeng, Guangyuan Bo’ai Animal Protection Center 
9. Report on TNR project in Beijing’s parks ; Qin Xiaona, Capital Animal Welfare Association 
10. Rabies Eradication and free roaming dogs population management through Spay and Neuter: The Bhutan and Philippine Program; Rahul Sehgal and Rey De Napoles, Director of HSI India Office and HSI Philippine Consultant 
11. Sharing experience of holding successful TNR project; Zeng Li, Lucky Cats 
12. Working with the Government to bring an end to puppy farming ; Mandy Paterson, Scientific Research Officer, RSPCA Qld 
13. Humane animal birth control for the street dogs of India: Empowering the whole team through 'Vet Train'; Dr Thinlay Bhutia, Vets Beyond Boarders, India 
14. Maximizing the capacity and output of a shelter-based spay- neuter clinic; Dr Wilford Almoro, PAWS 
15. Veterinary capacity building in China; Kati Loeffler, IFAW China 
16. People in harmony with feral and wild animals: practical effective TNR; David Burrows, Veterinary Surgeon 
17. Don't eat dog, a public awareness campaign against dog meat eating/trading; Luis M Buenaflor, Animal Kingdom Foundation Inc. 
18. TITLE TBC; Irene Feng, Animals Asia

1. First do no harm; Professor Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado 
2. The need for compassionate conservation; animal welfare concepts, considerations and conflicts in conservation; Chris Draper, Born Free Foundation 
3. Animal Welfare in wildlife conservation, compassionate solutions to researching wild populations and allowing people and wildlife to live together; Sandeep Rattan, Wildlife Wing, Forest Department, Himachal, India 
4. Translocation Tragedies: How Animal Welfare Science can Save Endangered Species; Liv Baker, University of British Columbia & San Diego Zoo institute for Conservation Research 
5. Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in Asia: a converging point for animal welfare and species conservation; Rupert Griffiths, SPCA HK 
6. The holistic approaches of Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre to conserve sun bears in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo; Siew Te Wong, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre 
7. Bear re-release in Southeast Asia: A route to compassionate conservation; Lorraine Scotson, Free the Bears Fund Inc 
8. The rescue and rehabilitation of slow lorises rescued from the animal trade; Richard Moore, International Animal Rescue 
9. Kangaroo Harvesting: Do the means justify the end?; Keely Boon or Dror Ben-Ami, THINKK, University Of Technology, Sydney

1. How do we ensure successful, sustainable programmes? David F Coggan, Humanebeing Education & Training Consultancy 
2. Progress of Chinese Animal Welfare Education; Prof Jingduo Liu, Chinese National Institute of Educational Research 
3. The power of education programmes: key components that make a programme successful; Kamonrat Kamonnawin, WSPA, Thailand 
4. Facilitating lasting advancement in attitudes towards animals; Vivian Chiu Ming Ming, SPCA HK 
5. The Exploitation of High-quality Resources of Chinese Animal Welfare Education; Professor Yao Yaping, Chinese National Institute of Educational Research 
6. Practice children in caring for animals and respecting for life; Xiao Bing, Xiamen Animal Protection Education Professional Committee 
7. Educating to stop animal abuse: Lessons learned; Dr Roshan Fernandopulle, Tsunami Animal-People Alliance, Sri Lanka 
8. Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation through Early Childhood Education; Tang Ya Fei & Sarah M. Bexell, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding 
9. Educating Students Creatively; Nancy L Gibson, Love Wildlife Foundation 
10. Empowering Young People in China to Care for Animals; Zhu Zhen, Roots & Shoots, China