Conservationist Giles Clark is embarking on his biggest mission to date – taking on the illegal wildlife trade and helping to build a pioneering new bear sanctuary in Laos, south east Asia. Giles has been asked by good friend Matt Hunt, CEO of Free the Bears, to help for 12 months and is not long into his role when he has to step in to help Mary, a five-month-old sun bear. Mary was rescued after her mother was killed in the wild and was spotted on the back of a truck for sale into the illegal wildlife trade. Fragile and malnourished, she lives with Giles and Matt at home while she needs around the clock specialist care. The other part of Giles’ role is to help build the new bear sanctuary, where Mary will be going as soon as her enclosure is completed. With 31 bears at the sanctuary already, the team are under tremendous pressure as more bears come in. Across Asia, bears in the illegal wildlife trade are sold as trophy pets, used for their body parts in restaurants and processed for traditional Asian medicine. The most valued part of a bear is their gallbladder, an organ that stores bile which is a digestive fluid that helps break down fat and is thought to have medicinal qualities. Over 10,000 bears across Asia are kept in cages in bear farms so their bile can be extracted to meet demand. Giles and the team are determined to put a stop to this in Laos and are working with the government to one day close down these bear bile farms.

Originally released by BBC Worldwide Learning, 2020. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on April 30, 2021.