Save the Bears

Adelaide Zoo is gearing up for possibly its most important import in its long history - two Panda Bears from China.

There's great excitement and expectation surrounding the arrival of Funi and Wang Wang, and a massive new climate controlled enclosure in springing up at the zoo to accommodate our visitors.

Already, the South Australian media has joined in the "Pandemonium", covering stories on the bear's preparation in China, for their long journey to Australia.

We've seen footage of Chinese "carers" pampering the young Pandas, hand feeding baby Pandas, rocking them to sleep and generally treating them like porcelain Chinese dolls.

Don't get me wrong, I love Pandas - they are cute, cuddly and of course I am as concerned as everyone else about their dwindling numbers in the wild.

I understand and support the need for conservation projects and community awareness about the plight of these magnificent creatures.

But, at the same time I feel certain resentment towards China for what I consider to be, its double standards.

While its Pandas get treated like superstars, a shocking number of the poor old Asiatic Bear (brown, not so cute) are being subjected to cruelty beyond my comprehension.

These bears are kept in tiny cages above the ground that they can't even stand up in, and milked for bile to use in Chinese Medicine.

The Animal Welfare Organisation - WSPA - recently reported that thousands of Chinese Bears live in horrific conditions, unable to move, wounded, scared and miserable with an open wound in their tummies in which workers insert tubes daily to remove the bile.

This pathetic, inhuman treatment constitutes their "life".

And, it's all in the name of creating some so called "medicine" which has questionable beneficial properties at the best - what rubbish!

Meantime, the cute, cuddly and very marketable Pandas are living it up in sanctuaries, molly coddled by human keepers and generally treated very well - it's such a contrast.

So, while I, like many other people look forward to welcoming our new arrivals later this year, my heart goes out to those other less attractive but more abundant Bears which are suffering in silence