Would you like to….spend a night in a cage to raise funds for moon and sun bears who’ve been or could be rescued from a life in a cage?

Free the Bears is an amazing charity based in Australia.  And they rescue bears who have been trapped in cages on bear bile farms in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and take them to bear sanctuaries to have the very best bear care for the rest of their lives.  They get veterinary treatment, good food, water, enrichment activities and all the bear necessities a bear could need.

So there are a number of ways you can help out and help Free the Bears care for the bears in their care and continue to rescue bears still trapped in captivity, and enduring painful bile extractions.  They live a life of exceedingly restricted movement, often only having room to sway from one side of the cage to another, minimal water, very little food and no veterinary care.

This costs money, of course, and during lockdown, fundraising activities ground to an abrupt halt.  However the Founder of Free the Bears, an incredible woman called Dr Mary Hutton, was not to be defeated.  Despite being in her 80s herself, she decided to spend a night in a cage to raise funds for the bears, the idea being that it would give people an insight into what it might be like for a bear to spend his or her whole life in a cage.

A Night in a Cage has been running since 2020 and this year, it is taking place on the 29^th April or if you want to set up your own "cage", you can during May as well!

You can get involved by:

1. Spending a night in a cage yourself as a fundraiser for Free the Bears!  You can create your cage from anything – a cardboard box, a tent, a shed in the garden…  You could form a team with bear loving friends and spend a night in a cage on the same night, encouraging each other on!
2. Sponsoring Dr Mary Hutton as this amazing woman (in her 80s) spends a night in a cage or sponsoring one of the teams – there is a UK team (take a look at the list of teams on the Night in a Cage page)
3. Sharing information about the fundraiser to encourage other people to sponsor you or others
4. Simply make a donation to Free the Bears – honestly, every single bit helps the bears
5. Share what you’re doing on social media to raise awareness of the incredible work Free the Bears is doing to help moon and sun bears

Visit Free the Bears' Night in a Cage page 

Visit Free the Bears' website