Video: Bear Freed From Bile Farm Jumps For Joy In Sanctuary
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A bear caged and in pain for years got his first taste of a pool at an animal sanctuary after he was saved from a bile farm.
Cameras captured Tuffy the bear jumping for joy in his first days outside at the Animals Asia's sanctuary in Vietnam.
Tuffy was rescued back in September from a tiny cage in a farm where they would extract his bile which is still used in traditional Asian medicine.
A vet team worked to rehabilitate Tuffy and even had to remove his gall bladder because it was so damaged from the bile extraction. He also had painfully dry and cracked paws.
"Coming from years of little or no water, for Tuffy this must feel like a true oasis after being parched and in pain for so long. It must have felt like such a relief to have the freedom to splash around in the water after only being able to stand on the hard metal bars of the bile farm cage," said Animals Asia Bear Manager Louise Ellis.
Tuffy apparently loved being outdoors so much, he didn't return to his den at night and instead slept under the stars.
Tuffy was just one of six saved that day. According to the organization, there are still around 1,200 bears in bile farms in Vietnam and over 10,000 more in China.
