After years confined in small cages for bile extraction, 27 Asiatic black bears rescued in northern Laos are now experiencing freedom and natural environments. Conservationists facilitated the rescue, allowing the bears to finally feel solid ground and drink clean water.

For two years, some of them never touched the ground. Locked in tiny wire cages and destined for a life of being drained of bile through syringes or surgically implanted taps, the 27 Asiatic black bears rescued in northern Laos this week had known almost nothing of what it means to be a bear. Now, for the first time in years, some are finally drinking clean water freely. Others are feeling solid earth beneath their paws for the first time. The rescue, completed this week by conservation group...