Bears are intelligent, powerful animals\u2014but many suffer unimaginable abuse.<\/p>\n
In China, Caesar the brown bear spent years trapped on a bile farm, where her gallbladder was drained for traditional medicine.<\/p>\n
She was confined to a tiny cage and forced to wear a metal \u201ctorture vest\u201d with a spike aimed at her neck to prevent escape.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the worst imaginable bile farm torture,\u201d said Animals Asia, the group that rescued her.<\/p>\n
In 2004, Caesar\u2019s life changed when Animals Asia saved her.<\/p>\n
She was in terrible shape\u2014wounded, angry, and weak\u2014but she received the care she desperately needed.<\/p>\n
Over time, she transformed into a strong, healthy bear with a glowing coat.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaesar\u2019s scars have all but disappeared and today she is an astonishingly beautiful (and formidable) bear,\u201d the organization wrote in 2016.<\/p>\n
Despite her new life, Caesar later developed an aggressive tumor linked to her past trauma.<\/p>\n
She died shortly after. Her story is a heartbreaking reminder of the long-term damage caused by bile farming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese metal jackets are now illegal so less common, but it\u2019s likely that there are still some out there,\u201d said Steve Jackson of Animals Asia.<\/p>\n