A bear sits inside an enclosure at the Vietnam Bear Rescue
Center in Tam Dao, Vietnam, in Oct. / Mike Ives, AP TAM DAO,
Vietnam (AP) - Bears, some of them blinded or maimed, play
behind tall green fences like children at school recess. Rescued
from Asia's bear bile trade, they were brought to live in this
lush national park, but now they may need saving once more. The
future of the bears' sanctuary has been in doubt since July,
when a vice defense minister ordered the nonprofit group
operating the $2 million center not to expand further and to
find another location. U.S. politicians and officials in other
countries are among those urging the military to back off. The
defense official wrote, without elaborating, that the Chat Dau
Valley is of strategic military interest, but environmentalists
allege that vested interests have urged an eviction. They point
to documents showing that the daughter of the park's director is
involved in a proposed ecotourism venture that wants to lease
park land. Conservation groups