Laos Sanctuaries

In collaboration with the Laos Department of Forestry, in 2003 we were given permission to build the Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre next to a small government rescue centre in the Kuang Si National Park, beside the spectacular Kuang Si waterfalls, a must-see for most visitors to Luang Prabang. When we built the centre, there was just a trickle of visitors to the park. These days, hundreds of thousands visit the falls and receive a welcome surprise when they discover our Bear Rescue Centre in the forest. Eventually, three bear houses were built with a capacity for 25 rescued bears. 

In 2013, we performed the world's first ever neurosurgery on a bear in our small clinic within the park, relieving our beautiful moon bear ChamPa of the pain associated with hydrocephaly (watch her story below). 2014 saw completion of a Bear Discovery Trail, providing an opportunity to educate the many visitors who pass the Bear Rescue Centre about the issues faced by wild bears and the work we do to rescue them from cages and provide them a life free from pain and suffering.

After a spate of bear rescues filled our Bear Rescue Centre and following a request from our government partners to help other endangered species, it became clear that we'd need to expand. In late 2017 we opened our multi-species Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, nestled into a gorgeous mountain valley beside quaint rural villages, only 8km from the Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre. 

Since this time we've rescued record numbers of bears. most of which are orphaned cubs. 2024 was our largest ever year of rescues in Laos with 30 bears rescued, including the world's largest ever rescue of threatened bear cubs when 16 cubs were rescued.

Our new Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary has been constantly expanding to cope with the more than 150 bears rescued in Laos (more than half were rescued since 2019). We've built 9 bear houses at the new sanctuary with 3 more bear houses planned for construction in 2025 and 2026 (urgently required to house additional rescues and growing cubs). The sanctuary was featured in the BBC docuseries Bears About the House (watch Episode 1 here).

The Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary also has habitats and facilities for many other threatened and endangered animals we've rescued including macaques/monkeys, leopard cats, tortoises, birds, civets, pangolins and even red pandas, intercepted after being smuggled from China into Laos, the world's largest ever rescue of red pandas.

A Wildlife Hospital, Cub Nursery, Quarantine House and Pangolarium (for rescued pangolins and other reptiles) were all completed in 2019. Whenever possible, smaller species such as leopard cats, civets and pangolins are released into safe and protected forest once rehabilitated and in 2019 we had our first release of rehabilitated wildlife to protected forest, a proud moment. We've had several more releases since.

For the bears, however, a release back to the forest isn’t possible, they'll require lifelong care at the sanctuary. We are progressing plans to allow for future releases and have built special facilities to raise and research suitable release candidates, although releases are some years off as suitable forest needs to first be identified, surveyed and protected.

We're providing valuable training, employment opportunities and alternative livelihoods to government officials, local villagers and youth, including live-in workshops for government officers to improve their capacity to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, a wildlife medicine module for National University of Laos veterinary students, as well as nature appreciation and livelihood workshops for villages in the surrounding area. Our sanctuary is almost entirely staffed by locals from the surrounding villages, as is our team of forest rangers that protect the surrounding forest.

We'd love for you to visit our Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre or Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary on a Bear Care Tour, proceeds of which help protect and care for threatened and endangered species in Laos.

If you would like to support our cause (Free the Bears is a small charity but rescuing more threatened bear cubs than any other organisation on Earth), we'd be incredibly grateful for your support, your donation genuinely makes a difference to threatened bears. Learn more about joining our family of Bear Carers by clicking here. Thank you.