| October Update |
[Oct. 13th, 2006|12:33 pm] |
Listening recently rang Xia He to see how our bear is going.
It is getting colder now, and has started to snow higher up the valley, though no snow in Xia He yet.
The lamas have made some alterations to the bed to make it more comfortable: the legs have been shortened so its easier for her to climb upon, and also some extra wood has been added to the top, as the slats were previously too far apart.
Also the bed has been moved into the rear room, where it will be warmer through the winter.
I recently got some film developed from Xia He. Posted below is another picture from the prayer wheel circuit: you can see the body of a black kitten under one of the wheels. Later that same day, I saw a dead white kitten under another wheel.
It was very strange, and I never found out what it meant...
Other photos include:
Prayer flags in the grasslands
Yak butter sculptures
Yak close-up
Forest around Xia He
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| More China pix |
[Sep. 6th, 2006|04:42 pm] |
Prayer wheels at Tongren
Playing pool in Xining
Qing Hai lake
Ta Er Si
The road to Dunhuang...
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| Bear |
[Aug. 29th, 2006|02:22 pm] |
It's my last day in Xia He today, tomorrow I'm catching the bus to Tongren, the next town west of here for a little trip before heading home.
Things have gone pretty well with the bear, we've been able to make some real improvements to her situation, but there's still more that can be done.
Haven't given up on the idea for an outdoor yard to be built for the bear; discussing this with the lama, he says the monastery cannot accept any money to do this: they have a policy to accept no outside money from anyone, as it later they might try and influence & control happenings at the monastery...
This is pretty disappointing, but anyway we have asked them to consider building the yard themselves with their own money, and just keep working on this idea.
I've got a good rapport with the lama now, and plan to stay in contact when I return home. Unfortunately the monks here seem to rotate positions every few years, so next year there might be a new lama in charge of this temple & he'll move elsewhere...
My sister brought some honey, peanut butter, and a 4kg packet of dog biscuits from Australia, some `treats' for the bear... she totally loved the honey, didnt take to the dog biscuits at all.
The hotel I'm staying at has a couple of dogs who live on the roof, so I gave the biscuits to the owners, they were happy to take them, & thought it was pretty funny...
Yesterday at the temple I had tea with the lama, and he made some `tsampa' which is a Tibetan food made from butter, hot water, sugar & flour. It tasted pretty damn good actually, & he was grinning cause I liked it so much... though my hands were totally filthy, I'd been feeding the bear, & picking up rubbish around the temple grounds for some good `guanxi', I worried I'd be totally ill, but hey, no probs at all...
By the way, this internet bar is full of little monks playing `Doom', & other video games, really bizarre...
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| progress |
[Aug. 28th, 2006|05:38 pm] |
The bed is finished! It only took the carpenters a day to put it together...maybe it is not quite right, the slats are a little too far apart, but anyway it's OK.
We delivered it to the monastery on the back of a motor-taxi, and put it inside her cage right away. It took her a little while to figure out how to climb up, but we all cheered when she was finally standing on it. Of course she started chewing on it straight away, but if anything, it will be a good climbing/exercise toy to keep here entertained for a while.
At the mo it is in the front section of the cage, maybe in the winter they can move it into the rear room where it's warmer. Xia He has a lot of snow in the winter... but the lama says the bear doesnt hibernate...
Put the water bowl in too, it's secured to the cage bars with some wire, and seems pretty strong. We filled it up, and straight away she plunged her nose into it and snorted some water. A pretty good day.
Cath & Listening headed home yesterday. I'm staying on here for a few more days to see how things go.
Re: the monks trip to Chengdu to the Animals Asia Bear Sanctuary, the lama still says he has no time time to go 'cause he has to look after affairs at the temple. Anyway, we set up a bank account which he can access, so if/when he decides he can make the trip to Chengdu, he can tell me & I can put the money for travel costs in the account.
Not sure if this will ever happen, but at least its now a possibility.
He also has a rough travel schedule/itinerary for the trip, with bus & train times etc.
Some more pix of the carpenters adding the finishing touches... Chang Chang & her new bed, etc...
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| Bed underway... |
[Aug. 27th, 2006|03:19 pm] |
Well it's been an interesting couple of days.
We met a guy from Beijing who wanted to see the bear. He was friends with one of the monks here, who just happened to have some logs of wood stashed on his roof, which we could use for the bed. So we bought them from him (he wanted to give them to us, but we made him take the Y), and found a local carpenter to make the bear bed.
We are using the photo of the bed from the panda centre for a rough design.
Also my sister Catherine arrived for a visit. Went back to Lan Zhou to pick her up, and she is helping out on the project, & enjoying the sights n sounds n smells of Xia He.
Been shopping for a new water bowl for the bear; looking at some basic buckets, but it needs to be strong and secured to the cage, as the bear might destroy it and use it as a toy...
Some pix below: getting the wood & delivering to the carpenter...
possible water bowls?... at the hardware store...
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| Xia He |
[Aug. 22nd, 2006|01:19 pm] |
Arrived in Xia He 2 days ago. The town has changed a bit since my last visit, modern times are coming...
I am here with `Listening', she is a 19 y.o. university student (English major) studying in Henan province, who is helping me with translation.
Been to visit the bear a couple of times already, she looks really well, and healthy. Her cage was clean, no faeces etc, the lamas are caring for her well.
She ate the sultanas and honey we brought her with gusto...
We met the lama in charge of the temple she lives at, and have had some discussions about some improvements we can make to her living quarters including:
-fresh water bowl (at the moment she only has a food bowl she eats her porridge meal out of, there is source of fresh water for her)
- a low wooden bed for her to sleep and rest on, and get her off the concrete floor all the time
- encourage a couple of the lamas who look after her to visit the Animals Asia bear sanctuary in Chengdu for a couple of days to learn some more skills about bear keeping
So far discussions are going ok, the lama is fine about installing a water bowl, & bed, but says sourcing the wood needed to make the bed is difficult around here, wood is in limited supply in this area. There are few trees, and strict laws against cutting them down. (He says one man was sent to gaol for 3 years for this).
Regarding a visit to Chengdu, he says he has no time to go, as he must be at the temple every day. This is a pity, and we haven't given up on trying to persuade him or some of his colleagues yet...
Some pix below include `Listening', a possible prototype of the bed we want to build (pix taken at the Chengdu Panda centre), the Lama playing with the bear, and me feeding her some honey.
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| Animals Asia Bear Sanctuary |
[Aug. 19th, 2006|04:49 pm] |
Also based in Chengdu is the `Animals Asia Moon Bear Sanctuary'.
They currently have 167 moon bears, most rescued from farms in China where they were being `milked' for bile from their gaul bladders, for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
Bear farming is still legal in China.
In the year 2000 Animals Asia signed an agreement with the Chinese Government to rescue 500 bears from various in Sichuan Province.
There are over 7000 bears still being farmed in China today, and more still in Vietnam.
For more information check out www.animalsasia.org
Pictures below include:
Recently rescued bears foraging for food outdoors;
Jill Robinson (Animals Asia founder) feeding `Jasper';
Feeding & care area at the back of the dens;
Bear food!;
A pile of old bear cages from the farms;
Feeding time;
More old bear cages, including a `full metal jacket' which is used on some farms & is permanently strapped to the bear to keep it immobile;
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 19th, 2006|03:34 pm] |
When in Chengdu I visited the Giant Panda Breeding & Research Base. (Daxiongmao Fanzhi Yanjiu Zhongxin); they have about 40 pandas at the moment, including a couple of babies in humidicribs.
Feeding time is about 9am, then the pandas spend the rest of the day dozing.
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| Xia He bear: `Chang Chang' |
[Aug. 15th, 2006|05:30 pm] |
`Chang Chang' is an Asiatic Moon bear living on the grounds of a Tibetan Monastery in a small town called Xia He, Gansu Province in Western Central China.
I first came across Chang Chang in 2001 when traveling through this area.
She lives in a small concrete cage with bars along the front, and survives with little mental stimulation or exercise.
It's been a (rather long) goal to improve her living conditions.
With help from Animals Asia (www.animalsasia.org) this August 2006 I'm traveling back to Xia He to see what improvements can be made.
A bit more about Xia He...
Xia He is a 6 hour bus ride (bumpy) south from Lan Zhou, the capitol of the Province of Gansu. Set in a mountain valley, Xia He is known for the leading Tibetan Monastery town outside of Lhasa. Many Tibetans come here on pilgrimage.
The main monastery is Labruleng Si, one of the six major Gelukpa (Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism).
The Xia He river flows through the valley of Daxia He, and the monastery makes up 1/2 the township. The other 1/2 is marked distinctly as the Han Chinese area, rather, the business end of town.
There is a 3km pilgrimage route around the monastery, with long rows of Tibetan prayer wheels, totalling 1174.
A bit more about the bear...
The bear lives in a small cage next to a more remote temple at the far end of town. Details are vague, but it seems the bear was brought to the monastery as a young cub by a hunter, possibly the mother was killed. The monks took the young bear into their care. As the bear cub grew bigger (and more potentially dangerous) an cage was built.
The enclosure is a concrete and brick structure, approx 5x5 metres with 2 rooms. The front side of the enclosure has bars.
The main diet of the bear is a cereal powder paste.
Animals Asia sent a representative to Xia He last month, to enquire about a possible relocation of the bear to their sanctuary in Chengdu. It was found the bear is over 30 years old (bears don't live much past 30) and so it would be too traumatic and stressful to try and relocate her at this late stage of her life. Also the bear is seen by the monks as `the guardian of the temple' so it seems unlikely the monks would surrender her.
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