Saving Jasper by Nigel Gray & Cedric Baxter

Jasper, the Moon Bear, spends a happy childhood in the forest before he is trapped and caged in a bile farm. Will Jasper spend the rest of his days in that terrible place, or is rescue on the way?

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For Jill, Jasper and his friends - NG For Butch - CB First published in 2008 by Fontaine Press P.O. Box 948, Fremantle, Western Australia 6959 Ph +61 8 9467 4144 www.fontainepress.com For more information about Jasper, visit the website www.fontainepress.com/savingjasper This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the author www.nigelgray-author.com or to the publisher Fontaine Press. Copyright text ÂŠ Nigel Gray 2008 Copyright illustrations ÂŠ Cedric Baxter 2008 Printed in China National Library of Australia

When Jasper was a cub, he lived with his mother and his twin sister in a world that was lush and green. The twins loved to climb trees. They loved to swim in rivers. They loved to romp and wrestle. And they loved to chase each other through the forest.

Mother Bear took good care of her cubs. She watched over them while they played. She tried to teach them everything they needed to know so that they could survive in the forest.

Jasper grew into a big, handsome, happy and healthy bear. When he was old enough, he went off on his own to explore his world. But then...

The jagged teeth of a steel trap nearly severed Jasperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leg. The trappers came later to prise open the trap and take Jasper away.

When Jasper woke, he found himself in a tiny cage in a dark and foul-smelling cellar. Part of his leg had been amputated, and he had a tearing pain in his stomach but he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t move to see the cause. The cage was so small that he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stretch out, or sit up, or turn over.

There were six other bears suffering in that terrible room. Jasper was in a bile farm. The people who had bought Jasper from the trappers were draining bile from Jasperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gall bladder through a rusting tube that protruded from his stomach.

Jasper spent ten years in that tiny cage. Ten years in sickness and in pain. Ten years with festering wounds that never healed. Ten years with aching muscles and joints.

Ten years with never enough to eat or drink. Ten years without hearing one kind word. Until one day, people from the Bear Rescue team came to the bile farm to buy his freedom.

Jasper was transported to the Bear Rescue Centre, where he was given an anaesthetic to make him sleep. He was cut out of his cage and examined to see what treatment he needed. Then he was moved to the bearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hospital.

Jasper had to have five operations. He stayed in the hospital for several months as his wounds and infections slowly healed. The nurses were kind to him, and fed him wholesome food to help him recover. They gave him lots of treats, like fruit milk shakes, and sometimes he was even given a bearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favourite treat: which really is honey.

Finally came the day when Jasper was able to leave the hospital for good. In his new home, there was a row of rooms with four bunk beds in each. The bears could choose which room they wanted to sleep in. And they could choose their own bunk.

Because Jasper had been in a cage for so many years, the outdoors looked frightening to him. The first morning, when the doors to the garden were opened, Jasper stayed in the doorway watching the bears searching for food that their carers had hidden to encourage foraging. Later, he watched them play.

Now, every morning when the doors are opened, Jasper joins the race into the garden. There is grass to walk or roll on. There are climbing frames and trees.

There is a swimming pool. There are toys. There are playmates to romp with. And, most important of all for a bear, there are lots of good things to eat.

Sometimes, Jasper dreams about the bile farm where he spent so many painful years. But he wakes in his comfortable bunk, and realises that he is safe. In his new home, no one will ever be cruel to Jasper again.

Bear Facts

• There are eight species of bears in the world. Polar Bears are the largest; Sun Bears are the smallest. The bears in this book are Asiatic Black Bears. They are called Moon Bears because, on their chest, they have a cream or yellow blaze, like a crescent moon. • Bears nearly always give birth to twins. • Moon Bears love to eat fruit, nuts and bamboo. They like fish, too, and are good at fishing. But most of all, they love honey. • Moon Bears are a threatened species: their number in the wild is dwindling each year.

• A fully grown male Moon Bear stands more than six feet tall. In the bile farms they are kept in cages that are no more than one and a half metres long. The top of the cage can be lowered and is used to crush the bear onto the bottom of the cage to make it easier for the farmer to collect the bile. • Moon Bears are the bears most commonly exploited for their bile. Bile is a fluid in humans and other animals that collects in the gall bladder. It is used in traditional Chinese medicine, even though the prized ingredient in bile can be obtained from fifty-five different herbs and plants, and can be made synthetically. There is no need for the bears’ suffering. • The bears are often trapped when they are cubs. Many are amputees. Some bears have survived for more than twenty years in crush cages, before their misery has been ended by their death. • You can find out more about the Bear Rescue Campaign on the Animals Asia web site www.animalsasia.org. You might even like to “Befriend a Bear”.

For more information about Jasper and the Animals Asia Foundation, please visit the website www.fontainepress.com/savingjasper