The bear care bunch
Conservationists raised cute cub at home to save her from life of abuse
Making mischief at home and clambering all over her surrogate dads, Mary the sun bear will never know the life of torture she narrowly avoided. Mary – full name Mary Christmas because she was rescued in December – was destined for a life either as an illegal pet or caged on a bear bile farm, where fluids would be extracted from her body for traditional medicine.
But instead she was raised by conservationists Matt Hunt and Giles Clark.
The cub was just four months old when a forest ranger spotted her in a cage on the back of a truck in Laos, south east Asia, heading for the border with Vietnam.
Giles says: “What happens is the mum gets caught in a snare or a trap, then they will take the parts of that adult bear that are valuable for traditional medicine. As a live young cub, there is value.
“Some cubs will be traded as exotic pets but not very well looked after but others, and what we believe was destined for Mary, will end up in the bear bile industry. On a regular basis Mary would have been being crudely sedated and anaesthetised and have the bile from her gall bladder drained.
“It’s barbaric, they get a big needle and they jab it around until they find the right spot.
“In captivity in the sanctuary we can expect a bear to live until their 30s.
“On a bear bile farm it’s half of that.”
It is thought around 10,000 sun and moon bears – named after the markings on their chests – across Asia are currently being slowly tortured to death on these farms.
The bile from a bear’s gall bladder is used to treat liver and gall bladder conditions in traditional Chinese medicine, but it’s also marketed as a cure for everything from cancer to colds.
There is no scientific evidence to suggest that it has any effect.
Normally Matt, CEO of charity Free the Bears, would not raise a bear cub at home, opting for an outdoor nursery.
But at the time Mary was rescued in December 2018, the sanctuary in the city of Luang Prabang in Laos didn’t have enough space.
Sun bear cubs have an extremely affectionate relationship with their mothers, so it was vital Matt and Giles replicated that closeness when bringing up Mary, a relationship captured in a new BBC show, Bears About the House.
Matt says: “They’re much more accustomed to having cuddles and
Mary at weigh-in one-on-one interaction. For that first week she was very emotionally subdued because she’d been stuck in this cage on her own with no affection or anything, so it took one week before we got real positive interactions.
“Sun bears enjoy their cuddles, tickles and their play time. They are incredibly cute and it’s how they would behave with their mothers.
“They do sleep quite a bit when they’re little cubs and, as a human baby does, they will continue playing way past their actual energy level and then they lose it, so you have to manage that as well. It was always great fun but she would have regular sleep times and a little woolly mammoth teddy bear that she loved.”
For two months Mary was raised in the house by Matt and Giles, who fed, bathed and played with her like her mum would have.
But as the little bear grew, the time soon came to move her out of the house and into a nursery.
They filled a small enclosure with vegetation and tree stumps for Mary to practise climbing and began to take a step back – though they still had the odd cuddle.
Matt has raised many Sun bear cubs but he says there’s something special about Mary.
“I’m not lying when I say – at the risk of sounding like a stupid proud daddy – she’s probably the most beautiful sun bear cub I’ve seen and she’s got the nicest personality and nature. She’s growing up now and has slight elements of ‘princess’ about her!”
Giles adds: “You see after 12 months just what a robust, happy, well-adjusted character she is, in comparison to that malnourished, underweight individual we found at the start.”
Now Mary is approaching two and living in a larger enclosure with another female sun bear. The sanctuary, which has been expanded by a dedicated team, is home to lucky cubs such as Mary as well as bears who have been in bile farms for most of their lives.
Just recently Free the Bears rescued two 13-year-olds.
Mary is one of the luckier ones and Matt and Giles hope her story will highlight the plight of these beautiful bears. “She’s going to be an extraordinary ambassador, for not only bears but for conservation in general,” Giles says proudly. “Mary has got this endearing personality, she is such a little character. “People won’t be able to help but fall in love with her and I hope they will want to do something to help.”
■ Bears About the House starts tonight on BBC Two. For more information visit freethebears.org.
Mum gets caught in a snare.. and cubs are traded
GILES CLARK ON CRUEL TREATMENT OF BEARS