Albany volunteers who spent a night in a cage in aid of Free the Bears charity raise more than $6000

The Albany branch of Free the Bears has raised more than $6000 to end the practice of killing bears to extract their bile — by spending the night in a cage.

The charity has been battling for 30 years to end the largely South-East Asian practice of extracting bile from the gall bladders of captive moon bears.

The Albany branch, set up 23 years ago by Chris Offer, raises about $20,000 a year.

“The people of Albany support us so much,” Ms Offer said.

“We are only a small charity, but we punch well above our weight.

“Our head office is in our founder Mary Hutton’s garage, so people know that every dollar raised goes towards the bears.”

The event saw fundraisers spend the night in cages to raise awareness of the plight of bears, which are often poached as cubs and spend their lives in atrocious conditions.

Bile, which is extracted from their gall bladders, is used in traditional medicines, even though it can now be easily manufactured in a laboratory.

The charity has set up sanctuaries in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and lobbies governments to make the practice illegal.

Ms Offer spent the night on a porch in King River with four other people and a blue heeler dog, while other team members spent the night in cages.

Anyone who wishes to donate can do so via https://night-in-a-cage-2025.raiselysite.com/t/team-albany.