Moon Bear Jasper in his "crush cage" before being rescued by Jill Robinson and the Animals Asia Foundation. Like thousands of endangered moon bears across China, Jasper spent his life crushed in a tiny cage, unable to move, and never seeing the light of day. 15 tortured years of relentless pain and frustrated biting on the bars that were denying him his freedom, left him with appalling suppurating wounds, hair loss and drastically worn teeth and claws. Jasper was one of the very first bears rescued by Animals Asia Foundation Founder, Jill Robinson, when she originally uncovered this barbaric trade. His were some of the first eyes staring pleadingly back at her from his cage. Despite years of horrific physical and mental abuse, following extensive abdominal surgery and round the clock intensive care at AAF's Chengdu Sanctuary, Jasper began his slow recovery. It wasn't long before he showed his true sweet and forgiving nature. After years of agony, Jasper's affection for bears and people alike humbles us all. Today, Jasper is one of the friendliest bears at Chengdu – spending his days tumbling around in the sunshine in his huge natural forest enclosure with his friends, before collapsing into his cosy hanging basket, happy and contented Jasper the Moon Bear as he is today a truly magestic bear. Jill feeding Jasper his favourite treat of peanut butter. The bars look awful but they are necessary for no matter how cuddly these bears appear to be, they have very formidable claws and can move very fast so there have to be safety protocols in place. Jill Robinson with internationally acclaimed wildlife artist David Shepherd. A beautiful limited-edition print of Jasper with a print run of only 1000. David Neale UK Director of Animals Asia in the Animals Asia "Jasper" van, meets Steve Ashcroft from moonbears.co.uk March 2007 Some much-needed Jasper therapy Friday, April 4, 2008, 04:06 AM (Taken from Jill's blog Animals Asia Foundation http://www.animalsasia.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry080404-040657 It was time to take a break from three days of endless health checks, post mortems and funerals and it was time to keep a long-awaited appointment with the bear I knew would give me some relief. Jasper didn’t let me down. As I stood on the observation deck (with Tamara and Juanita from our Hong Kong office), overlooking his den, Jasper looked up to make sure he was being admired and casually, but purposefully, strolled over to Beau (on the right) who was sleeping peacefully by the pool and, without any hesitation .... bit her bottom! Jasper has never been anything but playful – the peacemaker of the whole sanctuary – but this time he’d gone a little too far. Rudely awakened from her dreams, Beau spun around in rage, snarling at the animal that had snatched away her peaceful slumber. And Jasper looked up at us with the most wonderful surprised look on his face, as if to say “What did I do?!” If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was laughing.....as were we. ************************************************************ Jasper demonstrating the best way to disembark from a hammock…. www.animalsasia.org