PHNOM PENH, Jan 29: Three sun bears rescued from certain death and consumption in upmarket restaurants in Cambodia will be flown from Phnom Penh to the Perth Zoo in Australia, officials said today. One male and two female sun bears, an endangered species still hunted in Cambodia, will leave tomorrow to become part of captive breeding programmes in Melbourne and other cities to try to reverse their dwindling numbers.The emotional departure of Barbara, 2, Sean, 18 months, and Viva, 14 months, ends nearly a year's ordeal of bureaucracy and red tape after they were separately rescued from restaurants in 1997. Their paws, an Asian delicacy believed to be a source of increased strength, would have been served for up to 700 dollars each.
They are the second group of sun bears in the past year to be bought from restaurant owners and sent to Australia by an informal group headed by Randy Steed, from the United States.
The whole thing started completely by accident, said Steed, a casino consultant who lives inPhnom Penh. ``One animal led to another. We'd get calls. We'd run into bears in Chinese restaurants or in markets.'' Steed and a friend, Australian businessman John Stephens, purchased property 12 km from Phnom Penh along the Mekong river to house rescued animals.
It took more than six months for the Cambodian Government to approve the necessary paperwork for the bears to leave the country. The bears remain the property of the Cambodian Government, Steed said, so in the future, if there is ever a realistic sanctuary here, the offspring can be brought back to re-establish the sun bear population. Son Hean, deputy director of the Cambodian Government's Wildlife Office, estimated that up to three sun bears are killed every day in Phnom Penh restaurants.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
