The Director of Education for the Nature of Vietnam (ENV), Vu ThiQuyen, has said that people should be proud of the achievements madeover the past decade in addressing bear farming, protecting biodiversityand aiding the wild bear population.

Speaking at apress briefing to launch Vietnam Bear Day on May 7 in Hanoi, Quyenhailed the joint efforts of the government, celebrities, businesses andthe public in the mission.

Ambassador to the bearprotection programme, singer My Linh, said as many as 30 documentarieshave been produced with the participation of more than 60 singers andentertainers to send a message calling for an end to bear captivity inVietnam.

She also called on continued public involvement to free 1,250 captive bears to totally eliminate the issue.

Meanwhile, a wide range of activities have been simultaneouslyorganised across 15 provinces and cities, with the participation ofthousands of volunteers to raise public awareness of bear protection.

Vietnam is home to two endangered Tibetan and Malayanbear species. Bear farming has fast developed in the country since theearly 90s, with the animals often kept in tiny cages and fed poor diets.Farmers extract bile from their gall bladders, a painful and stressfulprocess, as some people believe it to have medicinal qualities.

In 2005, a government programme was launched to stop this cruelty, anda number of legal documents were introduced to strengthen themanagement of the captive bear population.

As manyas 4,300 captive bears were tagged and registered with relevantauthorities, as an effort to prevent an expansion of bear captivity andexploitation.

Many rescue centres and institutionshave been established to receive captive bears, such as the Animals Asiafacility in the northern town of Tam Dao.

According to a 2014 ENV survey, Vietnam has seen a 61 percent decrease in the use of bear bile since 2009.-VNA