Dieter has been preparing intensively for this competition for many months in his free time, with the aim of raising €3,000 for Animals Asia and the 14 moon bears recently rescued in Vietnam, and now recovering from their traumatic time on a bile farm at our Tam Dao sanctuary.
Dieter is incredibly generous with his time and has long been a champion of the bears, promoting their cause at festivals in the town of Babenhausen,
Heartfelt thanks to you Dieter, from us all for this and everything you do for the bears. I can't imagine taking anything like this on, and you have our endless respect and good wishes. Big bear hugs from us all.
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A huge and heartfelt thank you - our friends in Australia - for your truly brilliant welcome during our Roadshow this month! Wonderful to see you again - and to take the opportunity to say endless thanks for your faith and help in our campaigns that are seeing such progress for the animals of Asia.
To everyone involved - whether in front or behind the scenes working so hard and passionately to see such a great turnout at events across the country - you are beyond fabulous and help to ensure that this vitally important work sees so many positive changes for the animals that need our help. I loved every single second of the madness, kindness and fun and look forward to seeing everyone again very soon.
For now, please click here to catch up on one of the busiest weeks of the year, with special thanks to Anne and Jude for their unwavering professionalism, not to mention their truly awful sense of humour, that kept us all smiling during exhausting times.
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Had a beautiful message a few days ago from UK artist and all-round thoroughly lovely guy Richard Symonds, who, together with equally lovely sculptor Suzie Marsh, held "Moonstruck" just recently in London where their breathtaking art raised much-needed funds for the bears.
Rich often thinks of Oliver - as so many other people do - and struggles to reconcile with the sad reality that this elderly bear spent 30 years of his life in a cage. Rich has always reflected upon what he'd been doing for all those decades while Oliver's life was fading slowly away - and how ashamed those responsible for Oliver's dark years should be.
No more to add except our prayers that Oliver will enjoy many more of his twilight years in his favourite spot on the grass, contentedly blinking up at the sun.
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I was so disappointed to miss our friends ophthalmologists Claudia and David, plus Emily and James from the Animal Health Trust just recently when they joined our teams in both Vietnam and China to help our poorly sighted bears.
Presentations in New York, London and Florence prevented me from both enjoying their company, and seeing more miracles as a result of their expertise and kindness.
One such miracle saw Kollo, our beautiful little bear in Vietnam having his cataracts removed and being able to see for the first time in years. We first saw him at a facility near Hanoi many years ago and even then he was the sweetest little bear who just melted our hearts. Now at our sanctuary he has been battling blindness ever since with all the stoicism we have come to love and admire in so many of our bears.
That David and Claudia worked their magic and gave him sight is beyond wonderful, and Kollo is finally able to enjoy the sight of the world around him, including his best friend Baerli, as they romp around together outside in the sun.
And beautiful Murko (below) had a cataract removed from his left eye, meaning that he can now see out of both eyes instead of only one.
Arriving in to Chengdu, China just after Claudia and team had left, I saw a whole host of strange looking bears with circles around their eyes as a result of having their fur shaved in preparation for the surgical procedures. Struggling to put a name to a face, I was sure I knew, I was reminded by one of our staff that he was, in fact, Blue, who appeared to have had a mini facelift, but was actually one of the patients to have had excessive skin folds removed - and now looked a completely different bear.
Please see here for more about the amazing work of the Animal Health Trust, and that of our amazing vet and bear teams too who, as ever, ran ragged the whole time to help over 50 bears who are now seeing quite literally a different world.
Endless thanks again to Claudia, David, James and Emily for their indescribable kindness and generosity to Kollo, Blue and friends in Vietnam and China.
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Supporters Laititia and Davide left their home town in Switzerland no less than three years ago to begin an amazing bike-riding expedition. So far they have covered 18,000 kms and are just about to enter China for the next 2,000kms of their incredible journey.
While in China, this fabulous couple will be raising money and awareness about our work to end bear bile farming. They have set a target of £2,000 - £1 for each gruelling kilometre.
The weather in southern China is baking hot just now and they'll need all the support we can give as they cycle over such challenging terrain. Please click here for more on these two super-heroes, including how you can sponsor them on Justgiving.com.
A huge thank you Laititia and Davide, take good care of those aching limbs, and please pop in and say hello if you're cycling near our sanctuary in Chengdu!
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