‘Miracle’

By Lupe, 2009~“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”-Einstein

We have a Miracle among us, and she is in danger.

The Story So Far

Miracle was born on a breeding farm in the spring of 2006. The farm is run by Mr. and Mrs. Lee, an aging Korean couple. Bear bile farming made them rich, but they are getting old and ill and don’t want to continue the bear bile business. They want someone to buy all of their bears so they can retire. The bile farm is small, filthy and miserable for bears. For Miracle, it was a torture chamber. The couple fed her pig’s food, and sometimes even meat from the flesh of other bears. All day and night she laid in her own filth, locked in a cage that was never cleaned. Next to her, in another cage, a traumatized 3-legged moonbear cub wrestled with madness. One day, no longer able to cope with the pain of bile extraction and agony of mental terror, Miracle escaped and swam across a river, where she found freedom in the wild.

But … Authorities want Miracle back; she’s an issue they do not know how to handle. They set traps for her and sent 30 armed hunters with 10 dogs chasing after her. When that attempt to capture Miracle failed, they sent another 110 hunters with 40 hunting dogs to track her down in May. Miracle has eluded them all. She’s been living off wild honey, farmers’ crops and chickens and the shear will to survive. Current plans to capture Miracle have been suspended until fall, when food supply gets low and the forest becomes thinner. If captured alive, Miracle could end up back on Lee’s bile farm or the farm of another Korean bile broker.

Body Parts

Farmer Lee has admitted to selling bears, regardless of age, to anyone who wants their gall bladders, their meat or their limbs. He doesn’t consider their pain or death. For Lee and his fellow bile farmers, bears are not fellow Earth Beings; they are a commodity, a product to broker for personal gain. He feels free of moral responsibilities.

Another Option

With enough public pressure, it is possible that the authorities will spare Miracle’s life and allow her to live freely in the forest, or, if captured, to be handed over to a bear sanctuary, where she will be cared for by compassionate and loving people. You can help make sure Miracle doesn’t end up dead by ambush or barely alive back on a bile farm.

1. Put pressure on the Korean government. Write letters!
The Minister of the Environment -
Attention:
Mr. Lee Maan-ee
KyungGi-do, GwaCheun-si, KwanMun-ro 88
JungAng-dong 1, GwaCheeun complex, (427-729)

Wonju Regional Environmental Office
Attention:
Director-General Mr. Kim, Hyung-seop,
Mr.Shin Sang-yeop/ Nature Environment Section
Kangwon-do, Wonju-si, Myungryun-dong, Dangu-ro 327, (220-947)
Tel : (033)764-0982

Hwacheon Governer’s Office
Attention:
Mr. Jeong, Gab-cheol,
Mr.Ji Mu-ryong/ Environment Planning Section
KangWon-do, Hwacheun-gun, Hwacheun-up, Ahri 239, (209-804)
Tel: (033)442-2855

President Lee Myung Bak
1 Cheongwadae-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea 110-820
Email: foreign@president.go.kr
Phone: 82.2.730.5800

2. Spread the word so others can get involved!

3. If you’re a teacher, our Resources page for lesson plan ideas!

Animal welfare activists are working to develop a strategy to save Miracle’s life. The key element in the strategy is to build a sanctuary on protected land. There are only 16 moonbears left in the wild in South Korea. By contrast, more than 1,600 moonbears are imprisoned on bile farms in South Korea. We can set them free, one bear at a time, one farm at a time. Please help save Miracle’s life, and we can save the life of the other bears that shared her hell on the Lee farm.

*Special thanks to URSA FREEDOM PROJECT Team members for their continual support and fantastic vision. Join http://ursafreedomproject.ning.com today and join the struggle!

You can support Moonbears.org in their struggle to build a sanctuary for all Korean bears. Sign their petition and share your voice!

The fate of “Miracle,” a female Asiatic Black Bear (Moon Bear) that escaped from a Whacheun Province bear bile farm in September, 2007, is currently being deliberated by Wonju District officials.

Unless officials decide otherwise, Miracle will be returned upon capture to a body-sized metal cage like the one from which she escaped, at the same bile farm where she spent her life before escaping. Environmental and animal welfare groups are working to see that this does not occur.

Poorly adapted to living in the wild, Miracle has so far managed to survive while wandering the Chuncheun border region by feeding from farmers’ crops. Miracle had been deemed a potential threat to tourists, and orders had been given to kill her on sight until June 1st, 2009, when the “kill-on-sight” order was retracted and Wonju Office Officials began debating how to manage the bear.

Citizens of Wonju argue that the bear ought to be captured and re-introduced into the Wonju wilderness after research concerning her health status, behaviour, and genealogy are conducted. As a captivity-bred individual, Miracle is significant in that she has successfully introduced herself into a wilderness despite a lack of survival skills education, which would have occurred had she been raised by her mother in the wild.

At present, it is uncertain whether Miracle can be thus reintroduced into Korea’s Jirisan National Park because the presence of hybrids is seen as dangerous to the preservation of pure breeds. Until the appropriate research is completed, it is unknown whether Miracle is a hybrid or a pure Asiatic Black Bear.

Unfortunately, at this time there is no suitable sanctuary or rescue centre for mixed-breed bears in Korea. Options for Miracle may include: granting the wish of the Wonju Villagers to release her deeper in the wild, a temporary placement in a zoo or a private location on farmland where she would be protected from hunters.

The Asiatic Black Bear, or “Moon Bear” named for its distinctive crescent-shaped marking on the chest, is a protected species in Korea. Only eleven (11) moon bears reside in the Korean wild, while an astounding 1600 are barely living under the torturous conditions of bear bile farms in Korea, where they are kept in body-sized metal cages from an early age in support of the bear bile industry.

Ursodeoxycholic acid, or “UDCA,” is the prized ingredient in bear bile and is believed to treat numerous health ailments. There are 54 known herbal alternatives to UDCA, all of which are acknowledged by the scientific community. Nevertheless, bear bile farming continues in Korea, China, and Vietnam.

–>WE MUST STOP THIS MADNESS!

Join Miracle’s Facebook group: click here

Sign the petition published in collaboration with URSA FREEDOM PROJECT to fight bear bile farming: click here to sign

Miracle in the News

Image Gallery-A heartfelt thank you to all the wonderful artists who helped give ‘Miracle’ a media face. We couldn’t have asked for a more inspired, talented group!