A CITY worker will be trekking through the hills of Vietnam next month to raise money for a charity trying to free bears from bile farms.
Jane Bailes, will fly to Hanoi, before journeying to the north of the Asian country for a six-day trek.
The 45-year-old will join 12 other hikers from around the country in a bid to raise £3,000 for Animals Asia.
The charity is hoping to release 80 bears from a bile farm in Chendu, a small fraction of the estimated 10,000 incarcerated bears across Vietnam and China.
The bears are forced to live for up to 30 years in crowded boxes while being “milked” of bile through holes made in their abdomens.
Animal rights campaigners say the practice causes intense physical and mental suffering to the animals.
Despite the practice being outlawed, bile from bears is still used in many traditional Chinese medicines.
Ms Bailes, of Hawkdene Road, Chingford, said: “There are synthetic alternatives, bear bile farming is cruel and unnecessary.”
To sponsor Ms Bailes visit www.justgiving.com/janebailes/
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