Bears are powerful, incredibly intelligent creatures. Studies on American black bears have even shown they can count.
Just the thought of keeping them captive for our entertainment is heartbreaking — but forcing one to wear a torture vest is beyond cruel.
Hell on earth
Bear Caesar spent the first part of her life in a kind of hell on earth. She lived on a farm in China that harvested ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine.
She was cruelly forced to supply the farm with bile from her gallbladder. Her captors drained her of the fluid 24 hours a day and bound her in a restrictive metal vest. She was confined to a small room where he could barely move.But just as it appeared her life would never improve, kind-hearted animal advocates came to Caesar’s defense… and changed everything.
Like thousands of other bears in China, Caesar grew up in what could best be likened to hell on earth.
She was forced to live in a small confined space and had what could only be described as a torture west strapped onto her. Like a medieval torture device, the breastplate constricted her body, while a spike aimed at her neck prevented Caesar from attempting to bite or remove the apparatus.
Even worse, Caesar had an open wound on her side. She was forced to supply them bile from her gallbladder, which they used to make traditional Chinese medicine.“It’s the worst imaginable bile farm torture,” Animals Asia, who saved Caesar, said about the vest.
Caesar suffered immensely in her terrible living conditions, and it’s incredible that she was able to survive. But amidst the darkness, without hope for an end to the torture, everything changed for Caesar in 2004 when she was one of several lucky bears rescued by Animals Asia.
By this time, she was frustrated, miserable, and seriously wounded. But thanks to Animals Asia, she was finally able to break free of the awful vest and get the love and care she needed and deserved.