My biggest rescue yet

TV farmer and wildlife campaigner Jimmy Doherty on his urgent mission to save a family of moon bears caged in one of the last remaining bear bile farms in South Korea

- By Karen Rockett

TV PRESENTER, farmer and wildlife campaigner Jimmy Doherty is known for rescuing animals facing cruelty and death, but his latest mission is his most ambitious yet.

The big-hearted childhood friend of chef Jamie Oliver has already saved two brown bears and several polar bears from zoos due to close down in Europe.

Now, he is frantically fundraising to save a family of moon bears caged over 5,000 miles away in one of the last remaining bear bile farms in South Korea, to bring them home to his farm and wildlife park in Suffolk.

“Seeing them in those cages was the worst thing I have ever seen,” he says tearfully following his recent visit to see them. “I felt both sadness and rage. The conditions they live in are horrific, tiny cages with no regular access to food or water, dragging themselves around sat in their own faeces.

“It was absolutely heartbreaking to witness and really difficult to leave them behind. One of them was in such a bad state she had to be put down.”

Jimmy is aiming to raise £500,000, and with £40,000 in the pot so far there is still a way to go. In the meantime “his” bears have been transferred to a Korean government quarantine facility in readiness for their big move.

All are elderly, in very poor condition, and Jimmy likens them to prisoners of war.

“If I was one of these poor bears, I would want someone to give me a shot at happiness,” he says.

Jimmy, his wife Michaela, his park director and his head of marketing, have travelled twice to South Korea this year to meet with bear farmers and government officials in order to put plans in place to bring the bears (two female, three male) to the UK.

All four of them were deeply upset by what they saw.

The rescue operation faces huge hurdles though in terms of funding and logistics and will be the subject of a new Channel 4 programme, Jimmy Doherty’s Big Bear Rescue 2, to be broadcast at the end of this year.