Two Asian black bears which were kept in a local house in Thuan An town of the southern province of Binh Duong were handed over to competent agencies on March 11.


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One of the bears before they are released


The bears, one male and one female, had been implanted with microchips and kept in cages for 15 years. The owner voluntarily relinquished the animals.

A medical examination showed that the bears have severely decayed teeth and suffered from liver and gall problems. They will be sent to a bear conservation centre in the northern province of Ninh Binh for special care in the coming time.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that there were 317 bears in Binh Duong in 2005, but the figure strongly declined to 155 in 2014.

The previous year, 19 bears were voluntarily handed over to relevant agencies and organisations in Vietnam, reducing the number of captive bears to about 750 – a significant decrease from the over 4,300 in 2005.–VNA