Dear everyone, So sorry to pass on our sad news that Saskia was euthanised on the surgery table on Monday afternoon after our old enemy, liver cancer, had taken its toll. In circumstances not unlike Andrew, she began to slow up, lose weight and generally look under the weather.

A downturn at the weekend accelerated the decision to bring her in for anemergency health check. As soon as she was laid onto the surgery table it was clear that we werelooking at a sick bear. Here, our Resident Vet, Heather, summarises for your info

Rescued bear number 157, known to all as 'Saskia' was sadly put to sleep on 10th September 2007. Always a determined girl, Saskia had bravely masked many signs of the cancer that had invaded her liver. She continued to eat and play outside in the enclosure but her progressive weight loss became a concern to all at the China Bear Rescue Centre and she was anaesthetised for an examination. Sadly, tests showed an untreatable, aggressive cancer that had invaded almost all of her liver and progressed through to her chest. With this condition, Saskia's quality of life would quickly deteriorate, and so the difficult decision was made to put Saskia to sleep under anaesthesia. Such a sad time for the whole team when, once again, the life of such a majestic animal has ended prematurely, whilst the world is expected to believe that the free-drip method causes no harm. Like Andrew, Rhapsody and all those before, Saskia won't die in vain. Her story is already travelling far and wide as journalists on site covered her final hours, the 3.6kg tumour and her sad cremation.

My own lasting memory was watching her from the roof of House 9 for an hour or so on Sunday with our caring, dedicated bear workers. She spent a warm and peaceful afternoon by the pool, dozing gently whilst other bears played all around her - before leaving us all the next day.

RIP Saskia, a bear so loved and respected by your family in Chengdu, Jillx
Jill Robinson MBE Founder & CEO Animals Asia Foundation