Eviction fears for Vietnam bear sanctuary
A Vietnamese national park is planning to evict a bear rescue sanctuary from its land for national security purposes, it claims.
The Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre, ran by international charity Animals Asia Foundation, houses more than 100 endangered bears. It is currently situated in a lowland valley between forested mountains in Tam Dao National Park.
According to the charity, however, the park has backed plans for an eco-development by a company co-founded by the park director's daughter. It therefore suspects the motive is profit.
Most of the bears have been rescued from the illegal bile-farming industry, in which bears are kept caged and digestive bile is forcibly extracted from their gall bladders. The bile is then sold on the black market for use in traditional medicine.
Animals Asia fears it will receive no compensation for the loss of infrastructure and loss of 77 local jobs, and is worried how it will care for the bears while it seeks a replacement location.
"It's no understatement to say that everyone is living in fear, considering that our bears and staff have all been given notice to quit with nowhere to go," said the charity's British founder, Jill Robinson.
Animals Asia is now calling on Vietnam's prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, to abandon the plans, claiming that the eviction would breech the government's signed agreement with the charity.
The country's Ministry of Agriculture, which oversees the park, has said it wants the land for national security purposes, denying that any company is seeking to use the land.
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