Ep53 Jill Robinson on bear rescues, cat and dog welfare in Asia

When Jill Robinson moved to Hong Kong in 1985, she soon joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Her responsibilities for the position back then included many investigative work in live animal markets and animal protection programmes throughout Asia. 

There was a time that Jill had the opportunity to visit a bear bile farm and it inspired her to found Animals Asia Foundation with the mission of further improving animal welfare and providing sanctuary for bears rescued from the bear bile industry.

Jill shares some of the practical work of the Animals Asia Foundation, including the collaborations with both local communities and governments. She also explains how and why some of the work is done differently in different countries. 

Jill said, “We are all connected. We all have our individual personalities and characters” and she strongly believes that every individual, animal or human, is worthy of respect. One of her philosophies is to work from the ground up and with local officials and communities to bring positive and long-lasting changes for animals. Jill introduced her Dr. Dog and Professor Paws programmes to the audience. While the former focuses on animal therapy, the latter has dogs accompany children with learning disabilities in educational facilities.

Jill continues highlighting the main goals of improving cat and dog welfare and to end cat and dog consumption in China. Jill shares details of the work regarding wild animal welfare, including freeing elephants in the tourism industry.

Jill concludes the podcast with the incredible story of how Animals Asia Foundation spent 8 years of efforts in bringing 101 bears out of a bear farm and to one of their sanctuaries. She invites everyone to join Animals Asia Foundation in helping them build their second sanctuary for bears and further end bear bile industries in Vietnam.

Together we can rescue the last caged bears in Vietnam HERE

Become a member of PAWS HERE