The Free the Bears Fund (FBF) is an Australian

charitable The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion. Etymology The word ''charity'' or ...

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

organization. It was started by Mary Hutton after she watched a documentary in 1993 on bears kept in small cages for

bile farming Bile bears, sometimes called battery bears, are bears kept in captivity to harvest their bile, a digestive fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, which is used by some traditional Asian medicine practitioners. It is estimated ...

. The fund was registered as a not-for-profit charity on 23 March 1995. The Free the Bears Fund supports animal welfare projects in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Laos,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, working with rescued and confiscated Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''),

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

(''Helarctos malayanus''), and

sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation. ...

(''Melursus ursinus''). A sister charity Free the Bears UK was established in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 2010.

History and achievements

The organization was informally formed in 1993, in response to Australian Television program ''A Current Affair'' airing a segment containing footage of moon bears being regularly milked for their bile. On 23 March 1995 Free the Bears Fund was registered as a not-for-profit charitable organization in Perth, Australia. The organization fought for several of the Sun bears to be brought to Australia to start a regional breeding program and began construction of the Cambodian Bear Sanctuary at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. This is now the world’s largest sanctuary for Sun bears, educating hundreds of thousands of

Cambodians The Khmer people ( km, ជនជាតិខ្មែរ, ) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 90% of Cambodia's population of 17 million.

about the threats facing their wild bear populations each year. Further requests for help arrived and Free the Bears was soon involved in projects throughout

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

and even further afield. Free the Bears soon joined

Wildlife SOS Wildlife SOS (WSOS) is a conservation non-profit organisation in India, established in 1995 with the primary objective of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife in distress, and preserving India's natural heritage. It is currently one of the large ...

and

International Animal Rescue International Animal Rescue (IAR) is an animal protection and conservation non-profit organisation that comes to the aid of suffering animals with hands-on rescue and rehabilitation and the protection of wildlife habitats. IAR returns rehabilit ...

in an attempt to rescue India’s "dancing" bears. The first group of 25 rescued bears entered the Agra Bear Rescue Facility on Christmas Eve of 2002. Over the next seven years Free the Bears provided seed money for more than 500 families to abandon the practice of "dancing" bears and adopt new sustainable livelihoods. Less than seven years after the first "dancing" bears were rescued, the last of India’s "dancing" bears were handed over into the sanctuary.BBC News 19 December 200
Last Indian dancing bear set free
/ref> The organization plans to halt the spread of bear bile farming and protect wild bears from the threat of the illegal wildlife trade. With bears in each country facing a unique set of issues that threaten their future, Free the Bears employs a range of strategies including environmental education, conservation research, and strengthened law enforcement.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Free The Bears Fund Animal charities based in Australia Animal welfare and rights in India Non-profit organisations based in Western Australia Funds

History and achievements

See also

References

External links