Vienna/Thanh Hóa, 25 November 2024 – Sick and severely dehydrated – this is how sun bear cub Anuk was brought to BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh in Northern Vietnam. The approximately five-month-old female bear has been nursed back to health with round-the-clock care since her arrival at BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh. Global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS, who took the cub into its care in mid-August, highlights that little Anuk is one of many sun and Asiatic black bears falling victim to the illegal wildlife trade. Anuk was most likely smuggled from Laos into Vietnam and confiscated by the Vietnamese police in a taxi at a bus station in Thanh Hóa. We have reason to believe that from there the trader intended to bring her out of the country and sell her off to Russia or the Middle East. After the quick intervention, the Thanh Hóa police was able to bring her to BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh. In her new species-appropriate home, Anuk can now grow up in safety and has already settled in well.

Orphaned when still a tiny cub, the little sun bear is particularly vulnerable as her immune system is not fully developed yet.

Anuk, which means “bear” in Greenlandic, was just 45-60 days old when she was found. Currently, she is being fed five times per day and loves her bottles of milk, as well as eating vegetables and ants. The little cub would not survive in the wild without her mother and due to a lack of rehabilitation programmes and safe places in Vietnam, a release into the wild is not possible. This is why Anuk will receive the best care and will spend the rest of her life at BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh.

One of a kind – sun bears are close to extinction in Vietnam 

Today, sun bears are on the brink of extinction in Vietnam. Both Asiatic and sun bear populations in Vietnam have decreased dramatically since the mid-90s, when many were trapped in the wild and caught in the clutches of the bile farming industry. Legal and illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam is a lucrative industry, which sees animals being sold in markets, restaurants, online and used in pseudo-traditional medicines. Since 2005, the advertisement, sale and possession of bear bile is illegal in Vietnam but the cruel practice continues behind closed doors. Almost 20 years after this ban was issued, around 200 bears are still being kept on about 60 bile bear farms, with Hanoi being a hot spot of this gruesome practice. The bears are kept in extreme cruelty. The cages are so tiny, that sometimes bears do not even have enough space to lie down. Their bile is usually extracted by puncturing their gallbladder, often with insufficient anesthesia, resulting in incredible pain.

Anuk is the only sun bear at BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh. She has recovered well since her arrival and particularly enjoys the many climbing opportunities in her cub enclosure. Sun bears love climbing trees to obtain fruits and insects as well as to build nests in trees to sleep in them. They are omnivores and primarily eat insects, fruit and honey.

BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh: A species-appropriate home for rescued bears   

FOUR PAWS has been working with local partners since 2017 to rescue as many bears as possible from their sad fate. With its BEAR SANCTUARY in Ninh Binh, FOUR PAWS is supporting the Vietnamese government to contribute to an end of bear farming and provide a species-appropriate home for rescued bears. BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh is not only a safe home for former bile bears and bears that are victims of the illegal wildlife trade, but also an awareness and education centre for wildlife conservation in Vietnam. Currently it houses 45 Asiatic black bears and with Anuk one sun bear cub. The sanctuary currently encompasses a total area of 5.5 hectares with eight large outdoor enclosures, three bear houses, a veterinary clinic and a quarantine area for newly rescued bears, and provides a capacity for up to 50 bears.