|
We are glad to be part of the "Program SERASI: Cintai Alam Sekitar" that was held by SK. Tangkungon this week. Together with our conservation partners, HUTAN-KOCP, Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sabah Wildlife Department, and Orangutan Appeal UK, we can raise awareness among teachers and students about the importance of nature and wildlife conservation. We hope that such a programme will be held again in the future so that we can encourage the young to love and protect nature and wildlife. #environmentaleducation #bsbcc #savesunbear #lovenature #savewildlife #conservation
0 Comments
We are happy to welcome teachers and students from SK Sentosa Jaya, Kinabatangan to our Centre today! BSBCC's Environmental Education Officer, Haniff gave them a tour around the sun bear observation area and conducted the sun bear explorer activity, where the students get to learn about sun bears through the activity book while observing the bears in the enclosure. Thanks SK Sentosa Jaya for visiting us, we hope to see you again next time! Today, BSBCC was visited by a total of 25 children from Tadika KEMAS Kg. Usaha Jaya, accompanied by their teachers and parents. Before they went to the observation platform, they were introduced to the sun bear and safety rules. While on the observation platform, the children were assigned to observe the forest surroundings and see the sun bears roaming in the forest enclosures. They seemed to be having a good time exploring the forest and seeing other wild animals. Hopefully the children will gain new knowledge about sun bears and help spread awareness among their friends and family. #bsbcc #schoolvisit #sunbear #conservation Text and Photos by Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh Finally it’s Betung, Itam and Kipaku’s forest day out! After passing fence training, it is time for our three babies to be let out into the forest enclosure. The process started with letting them out individually first, then all together. Words cannot describe how excited we are to see them go out into the forest they deserve. Kipaku was first to be let out alone in the forest enclosure. Our keepers placed a trail of his favorite foods on the ramp that lead into the forest. Once the guillotine door was opened, Kipaku was a little weary to exit at first but eventually followed the sweet smell of honey, peanut butter and marshmallows to the ramp. We watched in excitement as he started exploring his natural environment. However, he couldn’t help his curious self and got too close to the electric fence. Poor Kipaku got shocked and ran away grumbling and growling. He eventually calmed down but continued grumbling at the keepers. It was like he was complaining to them! Kipaku is naturally a forest lover – he loves to climb, dig and explore. He is a great explorer and show many natural bear behaviors.    Itam, compared to Kipaku and Betung, did not have the chance to be walked in forest as a cub so it took her a few days to build up the courage to exit the cage and go out into the enclosure. Eventually, we decided that she just needed a little support from her best friend Kipaku. Itam followed him and started copying everything he did! She would climb the same trees he would and dig where he dug. It is always a joy to see the friendship between these two bears. After a few days, we see Itam gaining the confidence to be the independent bear she should be in the forest. She, like Kipaku, also enjoys climbing, digging and exploring!    Betung absolutely loved being outside. She did not take long to go down to the forest ground and start exploring the enclosure. She was quite weary of the keepers observing her around the enclosure and wouldn’t come too close to the fence. However, she still enjoyed herself digging up bugs from dead logs and playing with the leaves on her own. She is always climbing up the highest and would stay up there playing with the tree branches and leaves. Betung is also a natural in the forest like her two other friends!     It was a fun sight to see all three being released together. Itam and Kipaku stuck close to each other with Itam never leaving Kipaku’s side. Betung, being the grumpy one, would get mad and bark at the other two when they would try to take her food. Eventually, they were all playing with each other in the forest enclosure. To give them this opportunity to be the bears they should be is very rewarding and a fulfilling feeling. Kukuton is still currently undergoing fence training but hopefully soon he can be united with the rest of the gang. We would like to give a big thank you to Hasanah Foundation for their continuous support of our bear rehabilitation program. With this help Betung, Itam and Kipaku can finally enjoy their forest day out!  On the 9th to 12th January 2023, BSBCC organised an outreach programme schools and village community in the Kinabatangan District. This programme aims to raise awareness on the wildlife conservation and addressing few issues concerning the community members related to wildlife targeting 3 primary schools (SK Tidung, SK Ladang Tomanggong, and SK Litang) and a community village (Kg. Dagat). BSBCC invited Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre representing Sabah Wildlife Department and few NGOs; WWF-Malaysia, Seratu Aatai and Orangutan Appeal UK as participants to the programme, which was welcomed warmly by the schools and the village. A variety of activities were done to attract the students, which to our surprise, were already well established in understanding wildlife conservation. Special thanks to all participating departments and NGOs for making this programme a success. The organiser was also in debt to the management of Tomanggong Estate of Hap Seng Plantation for accommodating our group while carrying out the programme. We hope more programme like this can be done to get more people to know our wildlife and support their conservation effort. We are delighted to welcome the first group visit in 2023 from the preschool of SK Paris 3 today. There are 29 kindergarten students, accompanied by their teachers and parents. They were given an introduction to sun bears and safety rules, and later they were brought to the observation platforms to see the bears roaming in the forest enclosure. Each of them is given a worksheet activity, and they need to observe and spot the animals in the forest other than sun bears. They seemed to enjoy exploring the forest while doing their worksheet activity. Hopefully the children can gain new knowledge about sun bears and help us spread awareness to their friends and family. #bsbcc #schoolvisit #sunbear #conservation Text by Dr Yeoh Boon Nie Photos by Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh BSBCC started 2022 with the arrival of RESCUE-66 Kukuton, a 7-year-old male sun bear that weighed a mere 19kg. In addition to his small body size, Kukuton had many self-directed stereotypic behaviors. Fortunately, his life turned out better after befriending Kipaku, Betung and Itam in BSBCC. At the second half of the year, a female juvenile sun bear RESCUE-67 Rudy arrived at BSBCC. A big contrast to Kuktuton whereby Rudy is a healthy, playful, and energetic juvenile bear and her exciting rehabilitation program will kickstart in 2023.   Our sun bear cubs Kipaku, Itam and Betung are making great progress from fence training to the release into the forest enclosure. This is one big achievement for the cubs venturing the forest life.     The reintroduction of a 6-year-old female sun bear Wawa, was another highlight of the year. From the pre-release recce, reintroduction, ground truthing survey, trap and translocation, and post-release monitoring, every operation was meaningful. The mighty Wawa deserves to live in the wild where she belongs.  The saddest moment in 2022 was to announce the death of our dearest captive-born cub Luna on the 19th September. We are touched by the support and understanding from all BSBCC supporters. Dearest Luna, you are the brightest star in the sky. We thank you for coming into our lives.   When traveling internationally was finally safe and allowed, we were grateful to host Dr. Cedric Tutt (Cape Animal Dentistry Service, South Africa), Dr. Serena (Wildlife Asia Veterinary Services, Singapore), Dr. Reza (Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah), and Dr. Nabila (Sabah Wildlife Department) in collaboration to provide advanced dental treatment to eight captive sun bears and one orangutan. Such collaboration is wonderful for the sake of animals’ welfare.   We have also started to receive many volunteers and interns. To every single person, our Bear Care team are truly grateful for the time and effort you have given to learn more about sun bears. Thank you for all for your hard work participating in husbandry and enrichment. We know that it is hard work and we would like to congratulate each one of you. You guys really make a difference to the welfare of our smallest bear species!   2022 was a convalescence year from the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us a hard lesson about One Health. None of us can escape from the punishment when one key component in this universe goes wrong. We are truly grateful to the Yayasan Hasanah for the continuous support of BSBCC conservation work since the pandemic started.
Our new year’s wish is simple – for the improvement of all sun bears’ wellbeing. May 2023 be kind to our 30-year-old Amaco who has started to show geriatric signs and Rungus who is suffering from neurological symptoms. We are thrilled about the forest adventure that is waiting for Sika, Rudy, Kipaku, Itam, Betung and Kukuton. We look forward to the Tabin Sun Bear Project which will enhance our understanding of the species in-situ. There are many more exciting projects on BSBCC’s 2023-to-do list. Let’s hope for a blessed 2023 and strive for the best! We are delighted to welcome a group of members of Harley Davidson for the visit today. They were given an introduction to Sun Bears and the BSBCC's efforts at conserving them by our founder Dr. Wong Siew Te, followed by a guided tour to the observation platform to observe the rescued Sun Bears in the natural forest enclosures. We would like to say thank you to them for adopting our 2 rescued Sun Bears - Fulung and Joe, and also the donation of bananas and honey! We hope they had a great time here and gained some new knowledge about Sun Bears, while helping us to spread awareness by sharing experiences with their friends and family! Once again, thanks for coming to visit us, and your kind donation and adoption! Text by Sarah Ilsley Photos by Jude Ailton George & Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh I came to BSBCC through the recommendation of one of my college tutors, Katie, as she knew I wanted to do some travelling in Borneo following a cancelled trip back in 2020 due to the pandemic. As well as getting more experience working with animals following my internship at Chester Zoo in summer 2021. I will be forever grateful to her as well as the staff here at BSBCC and APE Malaysia for making this all possible because this has quite literally been a dream come true and at times, I still can’t comprehend that I’m finally here after four years and am devastated I have to leave!  I was initially quite nervous as I was eager to make a good impression as well as it being the furthest I’ve been from home in the UK, but I had absolutely nothing to worry about and I cannot express how lovely, welcoming and patient everyone has been here at the Centre and it has truly meant a lot to me. These two weeks really have flown by and although it’s been hard work, I have loved every moment; learning about sun bear husbandry/care and the species in general, as they are one of the biggest mammals I’ve worked with so far, through practical husbandry tasks, helping with a health check (where I was able to clean a bears paw!!) as well as well as having the pleasure to chat to Dr.Wong and Pradeep several times where I have been able to get some realistic and valuable career advice.  I have also had opportunities to experience other wildlife this island has to offer through river cruises and rainforest night walks where I’ve managed to see and animals that I have only loved from afar in documentaries and photos on the internet- it’s truly been incredible. All of this is an experience I will hold close forever and have loved so much so, I can’t quite put it into words.  Text and Photos by Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh Our four bears – Kipaku, Betung, Itam and Kukuton – have been going through fence training these past few months and it has been a new, challenging and slightly scary experience for them. We first started with the super naughty Itam. It was to no one’s surprise that she would get zapped by the fence as she would be so curious of her surroundings that she would get too close to the fence. She was scared for a while till we joined her up with her ‘Knight in shining armor’ – Kipaku.  These naughty pair – Itam and Kipaku – love to destroy everything in the training pen. Our team eventually had to change the logs to a ramp and also had to constantly replace the planks on the platform as they would keep on playing with it. Kipaku’s fence training experience was similar to Itam’s whereby he was also zapped by the fence from being too curious! Both Kipaku and Itam were so scared to go out individually but when we let both of them go out together, this boosted their confidence to explore and learn from each other. Eventually, these two mischievous bears were the first to learn that they shouldn’t get too close to the fence! Itam and Kipaku's behaviour shows that they are weary of the fence and would carefully try to take the banana closest to the electric wire. Smart Itam was able to cautiously grab a banana and bring it back into the cage to eat. Betung and Kukuton were a little slower with passing their fence training as both had unpleasant experiences with the electric fence. When they touched the electric wire, both got zapped and decided to climb up the fence. They got stuck on top of the fence, too scared to come down! During Betung’s fence training session, she eventually was able to conjure up the courage to come down herself. However, Kukuton was too scared to come down at all and our Bear care team had to step in to help him down. Since then, he is weary to exit his cage but day by day since the incident there has been some good progression. Betung has managed to overcome her fear and is quite comfortable with her surroundings and also recognizes the fence to be dangerous.  Kukuton is the shyest one out of all 4 of them. His progress is a little slow compared to the others but slow and steady wins the race. We will be patient and observant with him and continue with his training so he can eventually be released into the forest enclosure! Itam, Kipaku and Betung have passed their fence training! They are comfortable exploring the Training Pen and have learnt to avoid the electric fence. They can now move onto the next step which is to be released into the forest enclosure! Our Bear Care team have also been working very hard to finish the Forest enclosure maintenance for our bears to be released back into the forest. It is very important for us to maintain the electric fence surrounding our forest enclosures as a barrier of safety for our bears and for us humans. The electric fence also helps to protect some of the trees from damage by our bears as well. Our team does a fence check daily to ensure that the wires are working well and will carry out maintenance such as clearing the overgrown plants and repairing any wires that may be faulty. We would like to give a huge thank you to Hasanah Foundation for their continuous contribution towards our enclosure maintenance. With this we are able to continue our rehabilitation efforts to release Kipaku, Itam, Kukuton and Betung back into a forest enclosure where they truly belong.     Some of the many works that our Bear care team will do to maintain the electric fences in our forest enclosure. Thank you to our team for their hard work and commitment to carry out the tiring work so we can finally let Itam, Kipaku, Betung and Kukuton out into the forest, where they belong! |
Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
|
|
Write to us at our
Postal Address BSBCC,
PPM 219, Elopura, 90000 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia |
Contact us on our Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
|
