I have loved animals since I was a child. I used to keep dogs but now I have five cats. I'm not vegetarian, but I don't wear fur. A couple of years ago I read about the plight of the Asiatic Black Bears in a magazine while on a trip to China. The animals, known as moonbears because of the beautiful yellow crescent on their chest, looked so cute. They are majestic creatures, yet I learned that day after day they are confined to tiny cages and tortured by farmers who want to extract bile from their gall bladders for use in traditional Chinese medicine. I was appalled. The first thing I did when I got back to Hong Kong was track down Animals Asia Foundation [AAF], an organisation dedicated to saving these bears, and volunteered. I felt it was my calling to do something to help.
I was delighted when I was asked to be an ambassador for the bears and jumped at a chance to go and see the ones that had already been rescued. When I woke up that morning, I headed straight to Chek Lap Kok to catch the aeroplane to Chengdu. I travel to China a lot on promotional trips, but this was more exciting than any previous visit because I was finally going to meet the moonbears. I did my make-up on the plane and chatted about the bears. When I arrived at Chengdu airport, I was surprised to see a lot of photographers and reporters there. On this occasion, it was a good thing because my joining the cause is to help publicise the plight of the bears.
We took a 40-minute drive to the bear sanctuary and when I arrived Jill Robinson, who founded AAF, took me to see the bears' playground and their individual cages. The staff gave me some apples and Jill said, 'Go ahead, you can hand-feed them'. I said, 'Are you sure?' and she showed me how. It was the best experience you can ever have. We fed them watermelon, then someone shoved a jar of honey in my hand. I asked, 'How are we going to feed them honey?' Of course, Winnie The Pooh uses a spoon but we didn't have one. So I just stuck my hand in the jar of honey and the bears licked it off. They're two metres high but so gentle, so I wasn't nervous at all. It was such a nice feeling.
After that, the staff opened the cages and they came out to play - just like having break time at school. Some of them are quite mischievous. They would do naughty things like pulling down poles, and they play with balls and in water. Even after they have suffered so much they seem to love humans.
We toured the sanctuary. There's a pseudo-wilderness area that is like their natural habitat. We saw bears roaming around, grazing. There are some bears that have to be treated with extra care, such as one cub called Sunshine. He was really cute. I think he's been through some terrible things because he was really scared. He would just sit on his little cradle and look sad, but I hear he's a lot happier now. There is a clinic where vets treat the bears for their injuries when they come in. There is also an education centre that shows how the animals are being tortured to get their bile and what we have to do to save them. There are tours for children and adults to learn more about what AAF is doing and I think some locals in Chengdu feel proud of it.
During the day I experienced mixed feelings. I knew the torture they had been through, but then I saw how well they were coping. It made me more determined to achieve our goal of banning this industry, hopefully by 2008. It's good timing because all eyes will be on China for the Olympics. I think the organisers would like to portray the right image to the world as well. The moonbears won't be the official mascot - I expect the panda's going to win that one [laughs]. But it's ok, I like pandas too.