Malayan Sun Bear film to screen at 2018 WCFF

“Big Pygmies Little Giants” produced and directed by Dr. Audrey Low and Howard Jackson is an official selection to the 2018 WCFF this October in New York.

The Sun Bear is the smallest member of the bear family and is found in southeast Asia from southern China to eastern India and as far south as Indonesia, sun bears, also called Malayan sun bears, take their name from the bib-shaped golden or white patch on their chest, which legend says represents the rising sun. They have a stocky, muscular build, small ears, and a short muzzle, which has earned them the nickname “dog bear.” Their sleek, black coat is short to avoid overheating in the tropical weather but thick and coarse to provide protection from twigs, branches, and rain.

The WCFF mission is to inform, engage and inspire wildlife conservation through the power of film. Join us for our eight year anniversary October 18-28, 2018. Ten days with over 100 documentary films screened, many World and North America premieres. Panel discussions, receptions, field trips, networking, virtual reality/360 and more. All Access Film Festival passes are available now for purchase: wcff.org/nyc-festival-2018/

Contact: info@wcff.org to join the planning committee. Sponsor the film festival, advertise on the big screen during the outdoor summer series and the October festival. Take a page in the full color program book to be distributed in USA, China and other countries.

Christopher J. Gervais, FRGS
Twitter: @CJGERVAIS
Christopher@WCFF.org

Wildlife Conservation Film Festival
October 18-28, 2018 | New York, NY
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Bears Rescued in China from Bile Farm

10,000 bears imprisoned in China, living in horrible conditions and misery

A Chinese government owned company is handing over its bear bile farm to an animal welfare group. The group plans to convert the farm in the southern Guangxi region’s capital Nanning into a bear sanctuary. The handing over of the facility will see 130 bears currently resident there given a new lease of life.

Hong Kong based Animals Asia signed the contract with state owned company Flower World after the company said it was moving out of the bear bile industry as it was unable to make money. The new sanctuary will offer a home to Asiatic black bears which are commonly known as moon bears because of the crescent moon fur markings on their chest.

It is not just the lack of profits though that has lead the company to move away from bear bile farming. Increasingly people’s attitude in China is changing in regard to wildlife and animal welfare. The current practice of bile extraction where bears are strapped down and needle inserted into their stomachs is coming under increasing scrutiny in China.

“Particularly in the last two years, there has been a lot of public discussion about the practice of extracting bear bile from live bears. Most people oppose it, so we consider prospects for the bear bile business will be less and less optimistic,” Flower World General Manager Yan Shaohong explained at the press conference. “Actually, the company has always been investing money but not making any,” Mr Yan said. Bear bile extraction at the farm actually stopped over 2 years ago because the company could not find a market for the product. This despite investing over US$1.2 million in the facility

Animals Asia will take over the ownership of the facility in May and will start to retrain the staff there on how to look after the bears rather than extract bile from them. The group are setting aside over US$5 million for the retraining and upgrading of the facilities. Animals Asia also hope to use the facility as a sanctuary for other moon bears rescued from the bear bile trade.

Terrified baby, unaware of its fate, life it will endure as a prisoner to satisfy human’s greed.

As many as 10,000 bears held captive in China

Unspeakable horror, the conditions the bears live and will die in

China can end the practice of all “bear farming”.
In doing so take the world stage as a “Leader” in conservation
and become a Global Hero for Wildlife Conservation