Jill Robinson (vegan) and Animals Asia: Ending Bear-people Exploitation, Part 1 of 2

Today, we will meet Shining World Compassion Award recipient Jill Robinson, the founder and CEO of the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia, which is also a Shining World Compassion Award recipient. Ms. Robinson is a true hero who has changed the lives of so many people from the animal kingdom. Her single-minded determination to transform the world for our co-inhabitants has led to many other honors, including Queen Elizabeth II awarding her an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1998.

Jill’s greatest accomplishments are in her work to end the bear-people bile industry, and her organization has rescued over 648 bear-persons. She worked diligently with the government of Âu Lạc, also known as Vietnam, to create a Memorandum of Understanding to eradicate all bear-people bile operations nationwide and rescue all bear-people currently in captivity for bile by the year 2026. In addition, she has established award-winning sanctuaries for rescued bear-persons in both China and Âu Lạc (Vietnam).

Jill and Animals Asia have worked with traditional Chinese and Aulacese (Vietnamese) medicine practitioners to promote herbal and synthetic alternatives to bear-people bile. She is a Council Member of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies Herbal Committee.

Animals Asia spent eight years trying to relocate bears from a former large bear-people bile operation in China located on land purchased by a Buddhist who did not want the bear-people to continue to be caged.

For her efforts to advance animal-people welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai presented the Shining World Compassion Award to Jill Robinson and humbly contributed US$10,000 to her cause in 2007. Master kindly donated US$15,000, and then US$20,000, to the Animals Asia Vietnam Bear Sanctuary in 2018. For partnering with the Jakarta Animal Aid Network to rescue 40 macaque monkey-people in Indonesia, Master presented Animals Asia with the Shining World Compassion Award plus US$20,000 in 2020. Over the years, Master has contributed a total of US$65,000 to Animals Asia.