This was Muppet's second official outing as an ambassador for "meat dogs" in China and despite a few moments of nerves faced with such a large crowd, he braved it out and did stormingly well.
The children had previously been briefed how to approach dogs safely and Vicki and I were inundated with polite requests of "Please may I stroke your dog.". Once they received the nod, they gently held out their little hands to Muppet’s nose for a sniff, before stroking his soft head.
We explained Muppet's past and how he had been found caged on the back of a truck together with about 800 other dogs on their way to a meat market in the south.
The children were sad for his past – and for all the dogs still being killed in the meat industry - and proudly held up placards and cards with the words:
"Caring for animals. I will."
“Support anti-abuse. I will.”
"Anti dog and cat eating. I promise."
"A lifetime love for cats and dogs. I will."
The children also signed a banner which read "Caring for animals starts with me" and shared their own feelings in writing on the banner too.
A little girl named Deng Yuzhuo wrote the words: "We should love dogs first, then dogs will love us more."
And another called Luo Ruixin, who was kindergarten age, drew two hearts on the banner, and told Suki while she couldn't write yet, she still wanted to show people that we should love all animals.
Suki and team organised a wonderful afternoon, and Muppet really did us (and his species) proud. A touching afternoon sharing time with a whole new generation of passionate ambassadors for the animal welfare movement in China.
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As we prepare for the start of a new year fighting bear bile farming in China, our team here has designed four fabulous postcards to help spread the message countrywide. The postcards feature stunning images donated by four talented and passionate artists who have used their creativity to speak from the hearts of the bears.
This first beautiful Christmas image comes from our friend and amazing artist Richard Symonds in the UK who kindly designed our Christmas cards this year.
Famous Chinese artist Zeng Jianyong who recently held a much publicised event of his work in Hong Kong and created this breathtaking, vulnerable image of a bear cub in a cage.
Another friend of the bears, Song Weiwei, designed this confronting image, which graphically shows the horror of the bile trade, while conveying the message that bears and humans share much in common.
And last, but not least, illustrator Han Lili created this adorable image of brain-damaged Rupert and tiny Franzi who lived happily together for many years at our China sanctuary, before sadly passing away within six months of each other in 2009/10
Our grateful thanks to you all for the poignant and compelling voice you have given to the tortured bears in China - may they all know freedom soon.
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On this special New Year's Eve, here a few words of thanks sent earlier to our special family of Board and staff, and with every word now sincerely extended to you, with our grateful thanks for your never ending help and support.
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With Christmas now behind and the new year looming ahead, this is the perfect time to send a short, but no less sincere message, with thanks and love to you all for being so brilliant throughout another difficult year.
As our relentless and patient Vietnam team continues fighting the battle against corruption, we wait with baited breath for the Prime Minister to make what will hopefully be the right decision and that we be allowed to remain where we are. Thank you all everywhere for working so hard on this issue, which none of us expected in our wildest dreams from those who are supposedly our allies in Vietnam.
In China, the latest news is that bear farming is being held even more to scrutiny by legal experts, with the practice called to task for not adhering to the true spirit of the wild animal law. Interesting times as ever, and the coming weeks and months are set to be busy again for the whole China team as more waves are set in motion to keep "Ending Bear Farming" on the map across the country. Thanks again to you all for working either in front of, or behind, the scenes and towards creating the final tidal wave this industry needs to see it obliterated once and for all.
Dogs and cats too have seen a truly superb year of public education in China, with our Cat and Dog Welfare team kept super busy working with school and hospital authorities, together with dozens of local welfare groups across the country. Here again, the "debate" is growing in intensity and it's good to see the Chinese public seizing the campaign and presenting informed and intelligent arguments against the consumption of our companion animal friends.
In that sense, the progress allows us to reflect on other animals looked on as food and similarly exploited, and the compassionate circle widens to include captive animals historically left out in the cold - whether in zoos or in farms. This is where all in our Animal Welfare and Zoos and Safari Parks teams have excelled in the past year in raising the profile of misery for them all. The conferences and workshops speak for themselves and, once again, 2013 is going to be another busy year as the opportunity for expanding on these presents itself and starts widening yet another debate in China.
With our three spearhead programmes forging ahead, it's to the credit of everyone on our Board, management and our country and admin offices that they continue to grow and inspire; the backbone of good governance, housekeeping and integrity that our supporters both trust and endorse. Thank you all, again, for a foundation we can simply be proud of in doing the right thing for both the animals and people of this world.
At the end of another year, let me leave you with a link to some special words from our friends Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff where they offer 12 "millennial mantras" which, were everyone in the world to read them, might see a different, certainly less violent, earth than we live on today. Jane and Marc combine the intelligence and compassion of two people who give every one of us "reason for hope" - with Jane and her unwavering belief in the "indomitable human spirit", and Marc relentlessly urging that each of us try to tread compassionate footprints throughout every day of our lives.
I hope we can continue to be the whistle blowers that Marc and Jane refer to as well - whether as part of the Animals Asia family, or in our individual lives, when things become too much to bear and we are compelled to speak out. Read their post here.
With love and thanks again to you all for the 2013 all animals deserve, and with the last, most appropriate, words belonging to our beautiful rescued "meat market dog", To Zhai, Jillx
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Sometimes it's hard to comprehend how lucky we are to see so many remarkable and truly sincere celebrities intelligently and passionately helping us to Stop the Eviction.
One such woman is Ali MacGraw, who with Ryan O'Neal starred in the 1970s film, “Love Story”, which is considered to be the most romantic film of all time.
“Love Story” was apparently super popular in Saigon, Vietnam too (with the immortal words "Love means never having to say you're sorry" passing in to common Vietnam usage today!) and so it was no surprise to see the media flooding around Ali as she walked around our sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park, Hanoi, and said a warm hello to the bears and staff.
It's true to say that to a man, woman and bear, we all fell in love with this extraordinary woman. Yes she was using her international celebrity to help reverse a decision to evict us from site but, most importantly, she was using her compassion and intelligence too and spent hours with the media asking that the Prime Minister search his heart and allow us to stay.
What could we possibly give such an icon, a genuinely warm and sincere bear ambassador, to express our love and thanks for an exhaustive schedule that saw gruelling flights from the US and just a quick couple of nights in Vietnam with back to back interviews and filming?
Really there was only one "gift" and not surprisingly, Ali was thrilled to be named the new "mum" of one of our rescued bears, previously nicknamed Horatio, and now with the very grand name of Milagro Horatio given by Ali herself.
The film of Ali and her visit is now up on our website and doing the rounds everywhere on the social networks, hopefully working its magic and convincing the head of this beautiful country of Vietnam to do the right thing.
Please click here to see the video and the read all about the visit and Ali who, more than once, did indeed (albeit a little tongue in cheek) mutter those immortal lines "Love means never having to say you're sorry", while those of us lucky enough to meet this extraordinary woman could only feel sorry to see her go.
Until the next time dear Ali, our love and endless thanks from a little place of peace and a community determined to fight the eviction and stay.
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With so much violence and sadness in the world, I think the whole Animals Asia team is thankful that we can look at our rescued bears with gratitude for always making us smile through even the darkest days.
Their forgiveness of the past and their relentless enthusiasm in enjoying every second of their new lives at our sanctuaries in China and Vietnam gives us confidence and inspiration to continue fighting until the very last farm has closed. Certainly the support of you and so many people across the world shows that our "End Bear Bile Farming" campaign is on the right track, and that our strategy, patience and determination are finally winning through.
While we continue to fight the eviction in Vietnam, this month we have heard in China that, because of the growing disgust of the public everywhere, the subject of bear farming is one of the "top 10 hot issues" of 2012. Every scene of a bear farm showing the caged and mutilated victims, and every contrasting image of our rescued bears playing in joyous groups within their grassy enclosures, brings home to the people of China and Vietnam how cruel and shameful the industry really is.
This is the time to be brave and to recognise that we are now the enemy of a great many people who profit from the cruel exploitation of this endangered species, and to recognise too that it is because we are the enemy that we now have the chance to win. Thank you for patiently staying with us through good times and bad, and for helping us to attack the industry even more relentlessly as we face a year which will see us spending even more time, more funds, and more energy in bringing bear farming to its knees.
Surprisingly, in between the fighting, we've had some fun too – and no more than in recent days giving the bears their annual Christmas treat and laying out mince pies in the enclosures for them all to enjoy. It has to be said that some are a little more enthusiastic than others and hoover down as many as they can find, without considering that they're eating more than their fair share.
Consequently we see our beautiful bear Bottom tucking in to her third treat in Chengdu in a video kindly taken by Vet Monica's cousins Raelee and Andy and, in the pictures that follow in Vietnam, greedy Moggie victoriously scoffing no less than five! Watch the video here.
One memorable picture has to be our little macaque Xiao Xiong Xiong in China who literally squealed in delight as he found and unwrapped the box and then quickly stuffed the whole pie into rapidly bulging cheeks, as his more dominant enclosure mate, John, came over to check what he'd found.
After finishing his treat, Xiao Xiong Xiong then watched a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon (shown by Sofie from her iPad) while adult John apparently enjoyed a documentary about Japanese macaques as his enrichment (grin).
Back in Vietnam there was little cub Joey ripping open both his and cub Ricky's Christmas boxes and gleefully chowing down on all their contents while Ricky looked on. Watch the video here.
And in China our two latest rescued juvenile bears Rudolph and Holly now in straw-lined quarantine cages and enjoying their first ever mince pies being offered by Tao, Monica and Nic.
So with bear hugs, blessings and endless thanks to you all as we come to the end of another year. My thanks not only to you but to our tireless, passionate and ever incredible staff across the globe who make me prouder and more confident each day that this is a war we will win. Together, we wish you all a beary merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and very peaceful New Year.
China sanctuary
Vietnam sanctuary
Hong Kong headquarters
Team UK - Kay, Sue, Gill and Adam, Fiona, Nicky, and sitting, Lara and Emily
Team USA - Maya, Alice, Morgan, Jada, Ray/Rainbow (Julie and Sadie)
Team Germany - Sunila, Christa, Christine
Team Italy - Irene, Guilia and Antonello
Team Australia - who cheated a little by using the pic from when we were all together for the roadshow in June! Kerri, Anne, Jude, Leanne and me.
China Cat and Dog Welfare team - Irene, Gina, Suki, Jessica, Rachel, Jenny, Yan, Carrot, Cherry
The last image is a festive but meaningful card created by Star in Chengdu who will sadly be leaving us at the end of the year, but who has used her indescribable talent to say in pictures what we all wish for 2013.
With love from us all, Jill
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