The Education for Nature (ENV) has launched a film making competition called “Say No to Bear Gall” to encourage Vietnamese people to protect bears in Vietnam.
The competition is designed for all individuals and organizations in Vietnam.
Entries must be video clips which feature messages that encourage people not to use bear bile and products from bear.
Entries that pass the qualifier round will be posted on the website
www.thiennhien.org/baovegau.
Two top video clips: one is voted by the audience and one is selected by the organizing board, will be presented with iPads.
The competition will last until July 15, 2012. The winner will be announced on July 16th.
Vietnam’s bear species are in danger of extinction due to people’s exploitation to satisfy their needs.
“People’s habit of using bear bile has put bear species at risk of extinction. To completely stop the habit, we should say no to bear bile and products made from other parts of bears,” says Tran Viet Hung, ENV’s PR Manager.
ENV has made and broadcasted many short films to call upon people not to use bear bile and products made from parts of bears.
The Ministry of Information and Communications and the Wildlife at Risk (WAR) has just published a set of bear stamps that will be available at post offices across the country.
The set includes four stamps covering two bear species in Vietnam: moon bear (Ursus thibetanus) and sun bear (Ursus malayanus). Both species are listed in the Vietnamese Red Book as endangered species.
On the occasion, WAR also published a set of six postcards called "Save our bears."
According to the Forestry General Department, more than 4,000 bears, mostly moon bears, are being kept for bile extraction. The figure is much higher than bears found in the wild, which is estimated at only 100.