700 bears rescued.
Thousands still caged.
Animals Asia runs sanctuaries in China and Vietnam giving rescued moon, sun and brown bears lifelong care — while campaigning to end bear bile farming across Asia for good.
Rescue footage from the sanctuaries
Follow the moment a bear leaves a bile farm cage behind, through quarantine, treatment and the walk into their new home.
More rescues on Animals Asia’s YouTube channel →
Where the work happens
China Bear Sanctuary
Chengdu, Sichuan — the original sanctuary and hospital site.
↗Vietnam Bear Sanctuary
Tam Dao National Park — home to hundreds of rescued moon bears.
↗Bach Ma Sanctuary
A second Vietnam sanctuary, currently under construction.
↗Bear Profiles
Meet individual rescued bears and their stories.
↗Visiting the Rescue Centres
Plan a visit to see the sanctuaries in person.
↗Bear Care
How the sanctuary teams rehabilitate rescued bears.
↗Bear bile farming
More than 10,000 bears — mostly moon bears, plus sun bears and brown bears — are held on bile farms across Asia, enduring repeated bile extraction for profit.
Bears live for decades in cramped cages where many can’t turn around or stand fully upright, carrying physical scars from the bars for the rest of their lives. Invasive extraction methods cause severe infection, and bile is routinely contaminated with blood, pus, bacteria and even cancer cells. Veterinary care is rare; bears that stop producing bile are sometimes left to starve.
Cheap, effective herbal and synthetic alternatives to bear bile already exist — the demand persists anyway, concentrated in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan, with products also turning up in Australia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, the US and Canada.
Animals Asia’s approach is threefold: rescue bears directly from farms, give them lifelong sanctuary care, and push through education, legislation and public campaigns to end demand for bile altogether.
No bear left behind
Bear bile farming in Vietnam is close to over — the campaign now is to finish the job, farm by farm, cage by cage.
Nearly there
Bear bile farming in Vietnam is almost over. The remaining farms are the hardest to close.
Before it’s too late
The bears still on farms need rescue now — help make sure none get left behind.
Vietnam bile-free by 2026
Together, the goal is ending bear bile farming in Vietnam completely — farm by farm, cage by cage.