More than 5,000 people in Phuc Tho district of Hanoi city on February 13 signed the petition to call for an end to bear farming, according to Deputy Director of the Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung.The petition was sent to the chairman of the Phuc Tho district People's Committee requesting authorities to persuade local bear owners to voluntarily hand over nearly 170 bears that remain in captivity.
Illustrative photo. Source: Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre
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The eradication of bear farming in Phuc Tho, a "hot spot" of particular concern within Vietnam, will help promote the transfer of captive bears in other rescue centers. However, this depends heavily on the efforts of the authorities in regular monitoring and strictly handling violations, Dung added.
Phuc Tho is the "hot spot" of capturing bears in Vietnam and has become a strategic target in the framework of the Nature Education Center's bear protection campaign since 2008.
Currently, the whole country has recorded 25 localities where bears are not captive. This is becoming a great motivation for the community, bear owners, NGOs and authorities to strengthen the joint efforts to promote the end of bear farming in Vietnam.
In 2018, 19 bears were voluntarily handed over to relevant agencies and organizations in Vietnam, reducing the number of captive bears to about 750, much lower than the figure of more than 4,300 captive bears in 2005.
In 2019, there will be many activities to promote bear farming eradication, typically the contest "Writing a letter to bear owners" with the theme of "Making bears a better life", which is ongoing and has attracted more than 1,000 entries.
Dung also called on the community to commit not to use bear bile products, disseminate bear protection messages in the community and report violations to the free hotline on 18001522.
Nature Education Center is one of the first organizations in Vietnam specializing in the field of nature conservation and environmental protection established in 2000. The center has strived to coordinate with bear owners and authorities to promote the termination of local bear confinement.
