Till the rescue, Thu had no name. Our team suggested calling her Thu, which means autumn in Vietnamese, as she was rescued by us in autumn – on the 13th of October 2020. For over 15 years Thu was kept in a tiny cage and used for bile extraction. The cage was even smaller than what we usually have to witness – with roughly only 1x1 meter, dirty, and rusty. Luckily the owner could be convinced by our local cooperation partner to hand her voluntarily to us. We do not know much about her but we guess that she was poached in the wild when she was still a cub and ever since locked up in that tiny cage in the back yard of the property of her former owner.

When our team got to the farm to rescue Thu, she was very stressed and frantic swaying facing the back wall. The quick health check which was performed on-site and the transfer to BEAR SANCTUARY Ninh Binh went smooth. Preliminary results suggest that Thu has chronic liver disease and gallbladder inflammation. Her upper canines are damaged from chronic bar biting. Thu was placed in quarantine after arrival in the sanctuary and directly started to curiously enjoy a meal of pumpkin, apple and some rice and sweet potato soup.