Mema

Introducing the beautiful Mema. Ok... so she might not be beautiful by conventional standards... some may even say she has a face only a mother could love....

But I think her wrinkly forehead and her frothy, drooly lips are rather endearing. Her teeth aren't pretty, but they still function and she certainly doesn't have any problems biting a sweet potato in half!

She was part of a very large rescue operation which involved rescuing 19 bears from a farm in the Binh Duong province, southern Vietnam, in January 2010. This image of Mema shows one of the many health problems that bears on bile farms face - dental disease. Not that she is suffering anymore, but her canines do stick out at odd angles and she is missing a few others here and there.

The majority of bears on bile farms have terrible tooth wear, plaque and tartar build up and often multiple fractured teeth, usually the result from a combination of very poor diet and boredom. They are kept in cramped tiny cages with no room to move and no browse or enrichment items to play with. They start to bite the cage bars from boredom and frustration.....

Here is the link to three short videos showing another rescue of 14 bears also from the Binh Duong province. Not the same rescue - this one occurred in Nov 2011 but it shows the rescue process from start to finish and shows how far Mema had to travel during her own rescue in 2010. I know it might be difficult for some of you to watch but trust me - you'll smile through the tears in part three when you see how happy some of the bears are to be at our centre!

Binh Duong Rescue of 14 Moon Bears