Freed from the cages of hell, the full metal jacket bears

PEERING through the rusting bars of his squalid cage, this bear is about to escape a medieval hell thanks to a British charity.

Animals Asia have rescued 10 terrified brown and moon bears from one of the worst bear bile farms it has ever seen in China.

Charity vets and volunteers believe that eight of the bears lived for years in illegal full metal jackets designed to stop them moving.

These hideous contraptions make it easier for farmers to milk their gall bladders for bile which is highly prized in traditional Chinese medicine.

But the bears are now safe in Animals Asia’s sanctuary in Chengdu, Sechuan, after being driven for four days and 1,500 miles across China.

After undergoing medical treatment, they should be able to join 170 other rescued bears, enjoying their freedom on grass once again after years of walking on metal bars.

The team from Animals Asia, led by petite blonde Jill Robinson from Enfield, north London, have been campaigning for years to get bear bile farms shut down.

The bile is used to treat illnesses from headaches to haemorrhoids but synthetic drugs have been shown to be just as ­effective.

And last week’s rescue in Shandong south-east of Beijing means that 20 of China’s 31 provinces have now axed bear-bile farming.

Jill, who founded Animals Asia in 1988, was appalled by the conditions in which the latest rescued bears had been living.

She said: “This was one of the worst bear bile farms in China.”

Eight of the bears are thought to have been kept in metal jackets – barbaric devices with sharp metal spikes poking into their necks to stop them bending their heads, and straps and strips of metal restricting their limb movements.

The jackets also have a permanent catheter running from inside the bear’s abdomen to a pouch under the jacket to make bile removal easier for the farmer.

Experts say jackets are little better than “medieval torture devices”.

Animals Asia’s veterinary director Heather Bacon said the bears suffered right up until the Shandong authorities shut the farm down.

She said: “Clearly the bile farmers removed the bears’ metal jackets and ripped out their catheters just hours before our arrival to collect them.”

One elderly bear, Oliver, was made so ill that he nearly did not survive the journey to Chengdu.

His situation became so critical that Heather decided to operate on the back of his truck – helped by the Chinese police who, sirens wailing, cleared a way to a hospital where doctors provided oxygen bottles.

After four hours Heather succeeded in removing Oliver’s infected gall bladder which contained a spiked metal ring to keep the catheter in place plus a metal wire.

Most of the bears had their teeth broken to the gums to make them less dangerous, weals from the bars deep into their paws, and weeping wounds from where the catheters drained their bile.

Another bear called Rocky – because of his stress-induced rocking – spent 15 years in the farm after being handed over by a zoo where he had killed his keeper.

The rescue brings to 276 the number of bears saved from China’s bile industry by Animals Asia, with 42 farms closed.

The 10 lucky bears are making good progress in the Chengdu sanctuary by a large river and with several compounds containing trees, grass, water, boulders and food – all that bears need to be happy.

Better still, instead of abuse and the pain of the metal jackets, the bears get that most precious commodity of all – love.

[source: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/178341/Freed-from-the-cages-of-hell-the-full-metal-jacket-bearsFreed-from-the-cages-of-hell-the-full-metal-jacket-bears]