AN animal protection group set up to save bears and other animals from cruelty in Asia has thanked Malvern shoppers for their generosity after it raised almost £400 at a street collection in the town centre.

Christine Coldrick, Worcestershire Co-ordinator for Animals Asia, said: "I would like to thank everyone who gave so generously and enabled us to collect the sum of £394.80.

"Animals Asia was founded in 1998 to protect and rescue moon bears, who are kept in tiny cages and appalling conditions in China and Vietnam, so they can be used for the agonising extraction of bile from their gall bladders for use in Chinese medicine.

"Since then, the charity has extended its activities to the welfare of cats and dogs in China, where they are often abandoned and sometimes sold in meat markets, and to the protection of animals in the country's zoos and safari parks, where they often suffer abuse."