Winner of “Better life for Bears” writing contest honoured

The Education for Nature - Vietnam (ENV) organised a ceremony in Hanoi, on November 15, to honour winners of “Better life for Bears” letter writing contest, on the occasion of the Vietnam Bear Day 2019.

Winner of “Better life for Bears” writing contest honoured

Under the framework of a group of non-governmental organisations on bear protection, the letter writing contest aims to call for the end of bear farming.

According to Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung, Deputy Director of ENV, launched in November 2018, the contest has received 97,184 letters from 910 Secondary Schools and High Schools across the country to call bears farmers to quit bear farming and give their bears a better life at rescue centres.

Among thousands of letters, the organising board have selected eight outstanding individuals and two teams to award.

Accordingly, in the category of high school, the first prize went to Nguyen Lan Phuong from Son La Specialised High School in Son La province and collective prize awarded to Luc Ngan ethnic boarding school in Bac Giang province; in the category of secondary school, the first prize was presented to Phan HuyChien from Nha Nam Town Secondary School in Bac Giangprovince and the collective prize went to Tran Quoc ToanSecondary School in Quang Ninh province.

The letters to the bear owners were expressed in many different ways, such as a letter from a daughter of the bear owner; a letter presented as a powerful impeachment note sent by the bear to captors; a letter that is filled with emotional poems of little bears separated from their families; or an author's letter sent from the future to himself containing many torments and regrets, Deputy Director Dung shared.

Up to now, there have been 26 provinces and cities where bears are no longer kept. This figure is 34 if including provinces where there are only bears left at ecotourism facilities or zoos. In 2019 alone, 31 bears were confiscated or voluntarily transferred to rescue centers.