A Fixby teacher is embarking upon a giant trip to save the lives of Moon Bears.

Animal campaigner Elinor Priestley, a year five teacher at Fixby Junior and Infants School, has been invited to travel to a sanctuary in Chengdu, China in April to discover the plight of the creatures first hand. The bears have become critically endangered due to being hunted.

Around 14,000 bears are thought to have been trapped by those practising traditional Chinese medicine, who harvest their bile to sell as unethical cures for hundreds of ailments, including hangovers, cancer and even impotence.

The once in a lifetime trip marks a milestone for Elinor, 38, and her class, who together have raised over £600 for the Animals Asia charity, which rescues the bears and places them in sanctuaries around the country.

Elinor learned about their plight when watching a TV programme in 2013 about the charity, which was founded by Jill Robinson.

She said: “I couldn’t believe the cruelty that goes on at the bear bile farms and was amazed at the incredible work the charity does.

“I called to find out if Animals Asia could help with our fundraising projects and everyone I spoke to was wonderful, so helpful and enthusiastic.

“I told my class about the plight of the bears and, like me, the children fell in love with them and really wanted to help.”

The Asian black bear is also known as moon bear and white-chested bear. It is a medium-sized bear species and largely adapted to arboreal life

To date Elinor and the class have organised dozens of fund raising and awareness raising events, which included an animal charity day and now support three bears at the sanctuary.

Elinor said: “I’ll be travelling to the sanctuary with my friend on April 14, where we’ll get a behind the scenes tour and will get to meet the bears in person over three days, which is really exciting.

“The first bear we befriended was George and the children loved finding out all about him. “It was difficult choosing which child would take him (the soft toy version) home over the weekend to write a diary about his adventures.

“Now we are the proud befrienders of Freedom, Kevin and Jingle, and I can honestly say we talk about the bears every day and the classroom is covered in pictures of them.

“There are no words to describe the children’s excitement over them.

“And I feel so privileged and excited, I just can’t wait to get there.”

To say thank you for being invited she is organising a charity ball on February 28 at the YMCA in Salendine Nook for friends and family of the school, which she hopes will raise even more money.