VZCZCXRO3259
RR RUEHAST RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHNH RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHTM
DE RUEHHI #1402/01 3580927
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230927Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8926
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5424
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001402 
 
STATE FOR OES/ENRC (SCASWELL AND HSUMMERS) 
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES (JWEBB) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV SOCI EAGR VM
SUBJECT: TAM DAO BEAR RESCUE CENTER: MODERN, WELL-RUN AND 
UNDER-UTILIZED 
 
REF: A) HANOI 1184; B) HANOI 398; C) 07 HANOI 1763 D)HCMC 156 
 
HANOI 00001402  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Animals Asia Foundation, a Hong Kong based NGO, 
recently completed construction of the first stage of a bear rescue 
center in the Tam Dao National Park.  The state of the art facility 
can provide long-term housing for nearly 50 bears and has sufficient 
facilities to provide care for an additional 70 animals for up to 
six months.  However, despite ambitious expansion plans, the 
facility remains under utilized.  Though Government of Vietnam (GVN) 
officials strongly supported the construction of the facility, they 
have been less willing to enforce Vietnamese animal protection laws 
to remove bears from bear farms to the rescue center.  End Summary. 
 
First Class Bear Care 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On December 22, Embassy Officers visited the Animals Asia 
Foundation Tam Dao Bear Rescue Center approximately 90 kilometers 
northwest of Hanoi.  The first stage of the facility opened earlier 
this year with top-of-the-line housing, medical care, and nutrition 
for nearly 50 bears.  Currently, the facility's veterinary staff, 
bear managers and local employees look after 22 animals, most of 
which have been rescued from bear farms or confiscated during 
transit into Vietnam from Laos and Cambodia or out of Vietnam into 
China.  (Note: Animals Asia has rescued several bears after 
receiving notification through a hotline run by U.S.-supported 
indigenous wildlife NGO Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV)). Built 
at a cost of nearly USD 500,000, largely raised from individual 
donors around the world, the center hopes eventually to return some 
of the bears in its care to the wild.  Unfortunately, many of its 
residents no longer know how to fend for themselves or are in poor 
health.  Additionally, according to Tuan Bendixsen, the Vietnam 
Director of Animals Asia, there are few possible places to relocate 
the bears as the estimated wild bear population in Vietnam is in the 
hundreds and the national park system does not have the capacity to 
manage reintroduction. 
 
Ambitious Expansion Plans 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Following approval from the office of Vietnamese Prime 
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Animals Asia has begun construction on the 
second phase of the project, which will cost USD 3.3 million.  By 
March 2009, it hopes to open a spacious new bear enclosure with 
capacity to accommodate 40-50 bears, which will soon be followed by 
a visitor center as Animals Asia plans to bring in schools, local 
officials and other visitors to educate them about the need to 
protect wildlife.  An environmentally friendly facility, the center 
has set up a biogas system to eventually use bear waste to power 
outdoor lighting and purchases many of the fruits and vegetables 
consumed by the bears from local organic farms.  Upon completion, 
the facility will provide a semi-natural environment to care for up 
to 250 animals at an estimated monthly operating cost of USD 50,000 
to 70,000.  Animals Asia will run the facility for 20 years after 
which time it will turn the center over to the Vietnamese Forest 
Protection Department (FPD). 
 
Fading GVN Commitment? 
---------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) Bendixsen stated that early cooperation with the GVN has 
subsided.  He reported excellent cooperation with the Tam Dao park 
director since planning for the center commenced in 2005 and noted 
that the GVN provided 21 hectares for the center.  Initially, the 
FPD worked closely with Animals Asia and other NGOs to draft animal 
protection laws and regulations.  However, FPD has shown much less 
enthusiasm for enforcing those laws, particularly when bear farm 
managers have strong political connections (Ref D).  For example, 
earlier this year, Animals Asia learned of 80 unregistered bears 
illegally kept at a bear farm in northern Quang Ninh province, 
largely to provide bear bile for tourists visiting from China and 
South Korea.  However, when contacted by Animals Asia, the FPD 
refused to support relocation to the center arguing that the center 
did not have adequate facilities (which it does, insisted Bendixsen, 
noting that the Animals Asia constructed temporary facilities for 60 
bears just for this purpose) and that removal of these 80 bears 
would necessitate the removal of thousands of others around the 
country, without the necessary national rescue infrastructure. 
Eventually, the decision on how to proceed landed on the Prime 
Minister's desk and he sided with FPD, though one token Quang Ninh 
bear has been sent to Tam Dao. While FPD promised to provide 50 more 
bears to the center by October 2008, this has now been delayed to 
 
HANOI 00001402  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
next March. Bendixsen expressed his concern that the planned 
expansion of the center would not succeed if FPD does not keep this 
promise. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Tam Dao Bear Rescue Center is a remarkable facility 
that provides care equal to that at animal protection sites anywhere 
in the world.  However, facilities, like laws and regulations, are 
only the start.  Tam Dao's unused capacity, particularly when 
illegal bear farms operate with seeming impunity, highlights the 
GVN's ambivalent approach to wildlife protection.  Vietnamese 
officials are willing to take the easy steps, but hesitate before 
tackling implementation (Refs A, B, and C).  The United States and 
other countries with an interest in wildlife protection need to urge 
Vietnam to live up to its commitments in practice, not simply on 
paper. 
 
MICHALAK