British wildlife campaigner and TV farmer Jimmy Doherty has rescued five Asiatic black bears from one of South Korea's last bile farms and flown them 5,500 miles to a new home at his wildlife park in Suffolk. The bears, some of which had spent more than two decades confined in rusty metal cages, mark the first time moon bears have been relocated to the UK, and the rescue comes as South Korea formally bans bear bile farming from January 2026.

The five bears – Bara, Rumi, Saebit, Yong-gi and Huimang – have arrived at Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park near Ipswich after recovering at a veterinary facility following their removal from the farm. Bara, the oldest, had lived in the same cage since 1998 and had reportedly never encountered water before his rescue. The animals will now live in a purpose-built woodland reserve called Moon Bear Islands, with trees, pools and running water, after South Korea's bile farming industry – which once held around 1,000 bears as recently as 2014 – agreed in 2022 to be phased out.