The bear has its health checked before being handed over to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in Phú Thọ. — Photo dangcongsan.vn

PHÚ THỌ — Two endangered Asiatic black bears were handed over to Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc on Tuesday after years of being caged by a resident in Phú Thọ Province.

The bears, one weighing 120 kilos and the other 150 kilos, were held in captivity for about 18 years and four years by Phí Mạnh Tân, a local man in Ninh Dân Commune, Thanh Ba District of Phú Thọ.

Having learnt about the regulations on the ban of keeping rare wide animals and after encouragement from forest management forces, Tân voluntarily gave the bears to authorities for protection.

The bears received health checkups and initial care before being sent to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre.

The Asiatic black bear, listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as an endangered species, is believed to be an important indicator of conservation efforts on the ground to improve the quality of forests, home to some of the world’s greatest biodiversity. 

In 2017, Animals Asia and the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry inked a memorandum of understanding on closing all bear bile farms and protecting all remaining bears living in nature. — VNS