VietNamNet Bridge – A communication campaign has been launched in the northern province of Quang Ninh in a bid to raise public awareness about the need to protect bears during the first tourism months of 2014.

A bear being kept at a farm in Quang Ninh Province. (Source: dantri)

The campaign, the fourth event of its kind in the locality, was jointly organised by the Animals Asia Foundation and the provincial Department of Forest Management.

During the campaign, about 12,000 leaflets printed with legal regulations about the illegal trade of bear products will be distributed in Vietnamese, English, Chinese and Korean to foreign and domestic tourists and local people.

More than 100 posters with similar contents will be also put out along road routes in Ha Long City.

The moves are expected to help reduce the demand for bear bile, which some people purchase for its supposed medicinal properties.

According to statistics from the provincial Department of Forest Management, there are three establishments for keeping bears in Quang Ninh Province with a total number of almost 200 individuals and the situation of raising bears for bile in the locality remains complicated.

The campaign hopes to end this trade once and for all.    

Source: Vietnam Plus