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In pictures: Mary鈥檚 early days
Conservationist and animal expert Giles Clark is in Laos to work with Free the Bears, an organisation that rescues and rehabilitates bears from the illegal wildlife trade. The team are building a pioneering new bear sanctuary.
Giles has his work cut with Mary, a five-month-old sun bear cub. Mary鈥檚 mother was killed in the wild and she was sold into the illegal wildlife trade. But with the sanctuary and the cub nursery still under construction, weak and malnourished Mary has to live at home.
Across the region, sun and moon bears are sought after for the illegal wildlife trade. Held in bear bile farms they are used for their body parts in traditional Asian medicines, sold in restaurants as delicacies and kept as trophy pets. All of this makes them the most valuable species in South East Asia.
Giles is giving Mary the sun bear space to build her confidence after her rough start in life. It seems to be working as Mary is drinking her milk and getting the necessary nutrients for healthy growth and brain development.
In the wild, sun bears live in the tropics and use water to cool down. Mary is a natural in water.
As her confidence grows, Mary鈥檚 personality is starting to develop. She quickly takes over the house 鈥� getting to grips with her climbing skills.
Giles鈥檚 wife Kathryn visits and discovers the sad reality of what鈥檚 happening to bears in bear bile farms. Bears are held in cages and bile; a fluid that helps digest fat, is harvested from their gall bladder. In traditional Asian medicines, bile is thought to cure a variety of ailments and diseases.
The team is called out on a 10-hour journey to rescue two three-year-old moon bears that have been kept as trophy pets in a cage their entire lives. Tong and Nunge are taken to the Free the Bears sanctuary.
During the quarantine phase, Tong and Nunge are given health checks to make sure that they are healthy and safe to join the other bears at the sanctuary. They pass with flying colours.
Mary has moved to her temporary enclosure at the sanctuary and is doing very well honing her sun bear instincts like climbing and foraging.
A 14-hour drive away from the sanctuary, Giles and the team are collecting two moon bear cubs. They have been taken out of the wild just days ago and it is imperative to get them feeding and home as soon as possible.
