today I helped rescue a bear

how cool is that !!!!!

we had a single bear rescue today - a beautiful (but very fat) bear who had been living in this horrible little enclosure since she was a cub for 13 years! A mascot for a business company in Hanoi - we found out she was also being used for bile extraction. Her cage is on the road in front of this company - filthy dirty with putrid swampy water in the bottom half which made that unusable. I get so angry with people but then to give these owners credit they did decide to give her away a year ago and rejected the zoo and the circus as they were worried about how she would be treated. They heard about us and so the paperwork for the rescue started. One more bear that we can make a difference for. 107 rescued here so far - 100 still alive. So a very long and hot and smelly and sweaty day - but worth every second. We had to anaesthetise her just to get her out of the cage...

thanks for all the questions about how I am going.... I guess mentally/emotionally I'm feeling better - kicked the blues in the arse and decided to get on with it and track down every possible person in Hanoi who might be able to help me. Tuesday (my day off) I go to see a western osteopath so that will be interesting. My pain levels are down but my numbness and weird hypersensitivity in my left fingers is worse..... strangely enough I have trouble doing up buttons but I can still find a bear vein :)

ok happy weekend to those of you that have it off
big bear hugs
Rae