A new home for bears – and a new hub for research!
A new two-storey facility has officially opened at Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, creating much-needed forest space for rescued bears – and a new hub for our growing research and rewilding programmes.
This is the 14th bear house at the sanctuary, set against an incredible mountain backdrop and neighbouring community forest. On the ground floor, purpose-built dens open into a large forest enclosure for rescued bears. Above, a dedicated research office will provide a new base for our in-house team and visiting researchers from around the world.
Its opening comes at a critical time.
Free the Bears has rescued 54 bears in 2026 so far – the biggest rescue year in our history. Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary alone has welcomed 44 of them, including the 27 young moon bears rescued from an illegal bile farm in May in the largest bear farm rescue ever undertaken in Southeast Asia.
The arrival of so many bears at once places unprecedented pressure on a sanctuary already nearing capacity. Thankfully, construction of the 14th Bear House was already underway when the 27 arrived, allowing us to create additional forest space far sooner than if we had been starting from scratch.
And its completion has brought a very special milestone: all 27 bears from that rescue have now moved out of quarantine and into forest enclosures.
While the young bears can currently live in relatively large social groups, this is not the end of our need for space. As they grow and mature, their social dynamics will change and they will need to live in smaller groups – requiring more land, more bear houses and more forest enclosures.
At the same time, we need to remain ready for the next bear who needs our help.
A living research facility
The 14th bear house isn't only helping us meet today's need for sanctuary space. Its second storey has been designed to strengthen our understanding and conservation of bears for the future.
Studying sun bears and moon bears in the wild can be incredibly challenging. Populations are threatened and often occur at low densities, and bears can be elusive and difficult to observe.
Sanctuaries like ours provide valuable opportunities for researchers to study aspects of bear behaviour and physiology that can be extremely difficult to investigate in the wild.
This is particularly important for sun bears, sometimes referred to as the “forgotten bear” because there is still so much we don't know about them.
“Research at our sanctuaries gives us a rare chance to learn about bears in ways that are rarely possible in the wild, where these species are notoriously difficult to observe” said Free the Bears Research Programme Manager Dr. Zachary David.
“What we learn here feeds directly into the care we provide to rescued bears, and into the wider body of knowledge that efforts to protect wild populations depend on.”
The new office will support our in-house research programme while providing a base for researchers who travel from around the world to study bears at our sanctuaries.
Supporting bears on their journey back to the wild
From their new base, our research and rewilding team can use remote monitoring systems, including CCTV and proximity loggers, to study how bears in our rewilding programme behave, interact and use their environment with minimal human influence.
“Returning a bear to the wild is something we are approaching incredibly carefully,” Dr. David said.
“Remote monitoring shows us how a bear behaves when there is no one around; whether they are locating their own food, constructing their own nests, and responding appropriately to things they have not encountered before. That evidence helps us make the best possible decisions for each individual bear.”
Rewilding bears delivers benefits far beyond a single species. By foraging for insects, breaking apart decaying logs, and dispersing seeds across vast distances, bears help regenerate Asia’s forests and maintain its extraordinary biodiversity. For this reason, bears are often described as "forest engineers".
Beyond the sanctuary boundary, the bear house backs onto community forest where Free the Bears has been working closely with local communities to help protect important habitat from development. The forest can also provide opportunities for the soft rewilding of other rescued native wildlife, including young tortoises.
This bear house was made possible thanks to generous support from Welttierschutzgesellschaft e.V. (WTG) and our incredible community of donors and sanctuary visitors.
Donations, visiting a sanctuary, and gifts purchased for the bears through our Gifts for Bears Shop – from climbing towers and hammocks to swimming pools – all help us create the safe, enriching sanctuary homes rescued bears need.
With the record number of bears already rescued this year, expanding our sanctuary remains critical – ensuring we can provide lifelong care while always being ready for the next bear who needs us.
