Brown Bear is a loyal supporter of Free the Bears, and since starting in 2018 we’ve donated close to £30,000. 5% of all sales are donated to Free the Bears and we also do fundraisers like “Night in a Cage” to support this amazing charity.

If you haven’t heard of Free the Bears prior to visit our website, let us give you a brief introduction. It’s an international charity that was founded by Australian Dr Mary Hutton. So far, the organisation has helped rescue over 1,000 bears. The rescue is focused on sun, moon, and sloth bears, which are the three most threatened species of bears.

Moon Bears or Asiatic Black Bears, as they are also known, are classified as “Vulnerable to Extinct”. The two greatest factors are hunting and loss of habitat.  Under the CITES convention (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) it’s illegal to hunt, possess and trade bears in Laos. But there is still a lot of illegal trade going on. In Asia alone, over 10,000 moon bears are being held captive in tiny cages and commonly suffer mutilation to remove their gall bladders.

Free the Bear is working to change this and recently pulled of their largest rescue to date. Sixteen Moon Bear cubs were rescued – largest endangered bear cub rescue in history. The rescue was made from an illegal wildlife trade that appeared to be run on social media according to information received from the Laos police. 

The CEO of Free the Bears Matt Hunt spoke on the rescue and said the following:

“The sheer number of cubs puts immense pressure on our small charity.

We’ll need to bring in expert cub carers from our Cambodia sanctuary as well as other specialist help from overseas.

We hope to receive support from animal lovers worldwide, who can sign up to be a Bear Carer on our website.

Without suitable safe and protected forest for release, we may need to care for them for life, up to 35 years or more.

With increasing public awareness of wildlife conservation and strengthening of law enforcement, we hope to see greater crackdowns on the illegal wildlife trade and an end to bear bile farming in Laos and Vietnam in the coming years.”

The founder of Free the Bears also spoke about the rescue saying: “This rescue is very emotional for me”, commented Dr Hutton. “The cubs would most likely have seen their mothers killed. If they had not been rescued they would have been assured a horrible fate”.

There is clearly still a lot of work to do in Asia, and Loas in particular, but it’s amazing to see that our donations are going to such an important cause and that Free the Bears are doing such an fantastic job resecuing bear cubs from a horrendous faith.

Every time you buy a bag of Brown Bear Coffee you’re aiding in the rescue of more bear cubs, that’s the perfect reason to allow yourself that second cup of joe…It’s for a good cause.