The bears will be transferred to the Bear Rescue Centre in Vinh Phuc province operated by the Animal Asia Foundation.
Therequest came following reports about a large number of bears beingstarved and left to die because they are no longer profitable, due tothe Government's ban on extracting bear bile for tourists in May 2014.
DoQuang Tung, Director of Vietnam CITES (Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species Management Authorities), said local farmowners who do not meet requirements for keeping bears can have theirbears removed, according to the law.
Twenty-five bears that arein serious condition on farms in Ha Long and Quang Yen town will beimmediately transferred to the Bear Rescue Centre.
The deaths ofat least 12 bears have been recorded since November 2014 in Ha Longfarms. The number of bears in the province has dropped from 152 in 2013to 82 in 2014.-VNA