Oliver, the rescued bear who became icon of campaign against bile farming, dies

A charismatic moon bear who became a symbol of the animal-welfare movement in Asia after being rescued by a Hong Kong-based charity from a bear-bile farm has died after beating overwhelming odds to live out his final years in freedom.

Oliver the bear won a host of celebrity admirers, including star Virginia McKenna and actress Lesley Nicol, after being rescued with a group of other bears from appallingly cramped cages in a bear farm in Shandong .

He confounded expectations when he survived emergency roadside surgery during his dramatic rescue in 2010 to live his remaining four years in a bear sanctuary in Chengdu, western China, run by Animals Asia.

He seemed to shrug off the infirmities wrought by 30 years of abuse in captivity and came to epitomise the growing animal-rights movement in Asia. He starred in a film called that helped turn public opinion against bear-bile farming. Moon bears rarely live beyond 30, however, and last week, as his condition worsened, vets made the difficult decision to euthanise him.

A stream of employees who helped rescue him and then cared for him at the sanctuary in his last years held his paw to say a tearful goodbye.

Animals Asia founder and chief executive Jill Robinson said she was heartbroken at Oliver's death but said he had won the most important battle of his life when he survived his rescue from the Shandong bear farm in 2010.