About six years ago, I was attacked by a Malaysian Sun Bear. I had gone on a school trip to the mountains, and at one of the scenic viewpoints, there was a dirty cage with a juvenile sun bear in it. Tourists were feeding it chips and bottled soy milk and whatever shit they had with them, and it was really just a shitty experience overall. But I, like every other asshole around, was entranced by the bear, and held a banana through the steel fencing for a second too long. The bear came around and swiped the banana out of my hand, and one of his claws brushed the top of my hand. It didn’t break skin, but immediately turned red and funky. And that is my story about the time I was attacked by a bear.
Actually, I was just trying to write something, anything, to get my mind off this photo I just saw. It made me hate people again. Really, really hate people. Here it is:
Here’s the short explanation:
“Kwan” the Malayan sun bear died after the group discovered her starving and kept in a dark room Saturday during what the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand described as a routine check on wildlife kept at a temple. (full story here)
If you want to hate people any more, you can check out Wildlife Friends Foundation FB page and see more horrifying pictures of Kwan, read about the loris that had its legs broken so it couldn’t run away from the stew pot, and see just how bad it really is:
Full props to Wildlife Friends Foundation and whoever paid off the authorities and freed that goddamn caged-for-30-years gorilla in Bangkok (although I’ve heard rumors this actually did not happen).
Seriously, fuck people.
Wow. And Kwan was kept at a temple. You’d think the monks would want to treat the animal more mindfully and compassionately, but then again, it’s not entirely surprising that a religious institution might mess this up. I hope there are better temples out there, or at least better facilities, whether they be religious or non-religious.
Who knows why he was there… Temples often take in stray or abandoned animals, but the treatment here was deplorable in any case. That bear was fucking STARVED.
It is terrible what this bear had to endure for so long at the temple. Just so saddening. BUT the bear survived years of abuse and neglect at the temple. And in my opinion only dies because the rescue crew was not careful enough. Animals who have not seen sunlight can die just of shock from being in broad daylight suddenly. In the first pictures of Kwan after rescue she has no bleeding on her nose. The picture where she is sitting in the sun, unshaded, eating out of a gown her whole nose is one big wound. They did not carefully acclimate her to sunlight. They gave her medication, put lots of blinding light on her, straight into her eyes. Sure her captivity was beyond cruel. BUT her rescuers managed to kill this animal who had survived the most cruel treatment at the temple for years within one day. Unintended I think. But still, they killed her. And did not let her die in peace but shocked her with light, sounds and she left this earth in total shock. I do not support the pople treating her. They killed her.