By Mark Rusliteochew porridge raid
http://matahari-bears.tumblr.com/post/641219532/porridge-raid
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Finally got down to some enrichments today! So far the enrichments we came up with involved a lot of claw and tongue action (haha!), since captivity limits the use of these two vital body parts of the sun bears. We’re going to have to think of something different the next time.

The first one we had was a log, with manually-drilled holes that we stuffed with popcorn, honey, banana, raisins, etc. The intention was to give it to the group of adult females, but we gave Manis a headstart - she’s the least dominant, so she gets left out quite a bit by the rest. It’s natural in the wild when animals have limited resources, and they have to compete for them.
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We all have a soft spot for Manis because she’s developed some mental problems from her time in a zoo - her stereotypic pacing behaviour has instilled itself so deeply in her psyche that even the best enrichments fail to distract her. We gave her 5 minutes alone with the enrichment, then set loose the other 3 bears. Suzie, the most dominant one, pretty much hogged the log and its hidden treats by herself, leaving the others some leftovers and occasional quick, stolen snatches when she wasn’t looking.

Our second was a long piece of bamboo which already had holes on its sides: it was reused from a previous enrichment. We stuffed raisins and popcorn within its hollow and gave it to Bermuda, one of the males. I’ve already mentioned the jarring contrast in strength between both genders, and not surprisingly he tore its side easily and got to the treats. No challenge at all!

There are two groups of females at BSBCC. The first week I thought telling apart the individuals in each group would be impossible, but today I realised I could do it for the adult female group. Saylin was saying that we all have our own personal favourites, which we all quickly denied. But I think the truth is that no one wants to reveal they have any: we’re trying (or rather, pretending) to be egalitarian!

The bears here get fed porridge twice a day, and since bears are opportunistic feeders, they eat just about anything - popcorn, raisins, bread, you name it. - and it won’t really have adverse health effects if kept in low quantities. The joke today was that if these bears are eventually released in the wild, they’re going to find the nearest popcorn stand, or teochew porridge stall…. and may God bless the people there.
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It’s going to take a bit of work to wean them off these human foods, especially porridge. But that may be a while - BSBCC still needs donations for Phase 2: the visitor centre. Only through the construction of Phase 2 can the organisation be self-sustaining and then have adequate funds to channel into its rehab programs. Help spread the word!
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By Mark Rusli
http://matahari-bears.tumblr.com/page/1

This was our second enrichment - wooden blocks with holes stuffed with assorted treats like raisins, banana puree, apple puree, honey and peanut butter. We had to drill the holes manually, which was a lot of work, but I think I preferred it to electricity-powered drills because we had a lot more control over the angles and depths.

The challenge was for the bears to optimize their tongues and claws, like how they would forage for wood within tree trunks and branches - so some of the blocks had an intricate maze drilled in them, with the treats hidden and stuffed in impossible corners. It was fascinating to watch how the bears used these two body parts to manipulate their way to the food. Usually it involved using the ends of their claws to scrape the food out, and then licking the claws.
I think working with destructive macaws helped a lot. As I said earlier, the challenge with enrichments is the durability: will it keep the animal interested long enough before being destroyed? Some of the blocks lasted almost an hour which I think was good enough.
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And one thing we found out - male sun bears have twice the strength of females! Bermuda lost patience within the first five minutes and proceeded to rip our block apart with ease. Have to keep that in mind next time….

are you ready to help?
By SayLin Ong
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http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/627045706/are-you-ready-to-help

It is natural to have that desire to be involved in a particular field of interest. This is especially so for Biology students(with 3 months to spare) and animal lovers. I often hear of people wanting to help at a shelter, zoo or conservation centre. “Because it will be fun, its cool and its something different.” are the usual answers many people give. Be it as a volunteer, intern or employee, most jobs involving animals are often not what they seem to be.
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Although the 4 of us here are current or ex employees at the Night Safari Singapore, I am not claiming that we are super-qualified at working with animals. We are, however, adequately exposed to husbandry work with animals and have a reasonable level of experience. We know the seriousness of husbandry work and how easily accidents can happen when we let ourselves get too comfortable. Working with animals isn’t rocket science after all, how difficult can sweeping up faeces and preparing food be? Well, spend some time trying to properly clean an animal den and you will know it takes some experience to know what to look out for, and work effectively.

Animals will have to eat before they look happy and contented in front of everyone. Food preparation varies for different animals. Large carnivores are especially tedious, requiring the cutting up of large amounts of meat. Meat, quite naturally, comes along with huge amounts of blood. Working with snakes and raptors will also require preparing rats as food. At BSBCC, as least in Phase 1, the bears eat a main staple of porridge with dog pellets and fruits. When the bears are finally comfortable in the outside enclosures, food preparation will likely become more challenging with large amounts of fruit to prepare them for life in the wild.
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And once they’ve had their fill…

The tropical rainforest is highly dependent on its decomposers to keep the nutrient cycle going. The forest floors and undergrowths are hardly sterile or clean by our human standards. Leaf litter and decomposing wood are part and parcel of the forest environment. It is unfair to expect their dens to look as “hygienic” as that of an animal shelter housing domestic dogs and cats.
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Animals also hardly understand the concept of a clean water source…

Sandakan, Borneo: Day 8http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/619760773/sandakan-borneo-day-8


By SayLin Ong

Amanda’s arrived in Sandakan tonight. Shared with us some of her Mongolian experiences. Looking forward to the next few weeks working together, we’ll be helping Amanda settle down and assisting in her understanding of volunteering responsibilities here. It shouldn’t be much trouble at all given her good level of understanding animals as well as husbandry experience. The four of us will do great working and traveling together.

My cousin was near Sepilok this afternoon and took us out for an impromptu lunch. We took a quick visit to the nearby Crocodile Farm at Mile 8(distance from the town centre). It was more like a private zoo, a very dismal one at that. Its sad to hear from Wai Pak that there are places worst of than that. I shan’t go into the details of animal welfare there. This isn’t a form of avoidance, but I feel we should not be overly emotional at the same time. If we were to get disheartened and deeply affected by every setback witnessed, its going to hinder our full potential to make a difference. We accept that some things will not see an immediate improvement, learn from them, and continue doing the best we can to make a difference. Hopefully one day, some good will come to the animals I saw today.

It all boils down to education, and in order to make a real impact, it must not be on a micro scale. Little by little, the whole system of education has to change in order to produce people with more mature mindsets. Even in Singapore, people continue to watch dolphin shows and I’m certain a Whale Shark would attract just as many people. Maturity has to come at a societal level, maturity as a culture. Yes, our youths are a good place to start, but I have faith that adults are capable of changing their mindsets as well.

Its easier said than done, but not impossible.
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a well thought through design.

The design of the BSBCC facility is worth mentioning. With a tight budget and an urgent need to relocate the Sun Bears to a better enclosure, Wong and co has managed to design a facility that is although humble, yet very effective and environmentally friendly.

While this system is not put to service yet, it is meant for waste treatment in the future. When the system is in place, it is supposed to treat waste and harness the methane gas by-product. Methane can then be transferred back to the facility to be used at the gas stove, fueling the cooking process for the tasty porridge the bears love!
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Its great to know that while the sun bears have a good environment to live in while they prepare to be released into the wild, they are not increasing their carbon footprint. Ultimately, such benefits will cycle back and mean well for the lives of the Bornean Sun Bears.

Sandakan, Borneo: Day 6http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/613571038/sandakan-borneo-day-6


By SayLin Ong
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We got to try out a new type of enrichment for the bears today. Its a type of arrangement we haven’t seen before back in Night Safari. Simple idea of attaching chains across the dens, but many creative ways in which we could do it. Chains provide an interesting type of support for the bears, although somewhat unnatural in terms of their material. However, I feel its beneficial that the bears get to use a somewhat unstable form of support since nature, with all its limitless creativity, would never provide a completely stable and ‘perfect’ form of support. It was almost comical watching the bears testing how stable the chains were.

Sandakan, Borneo: Day 5http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/613476637/sandakan-borneo-day-5
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By SayLin Ong

Day 5 - Husbandry has become pretty routine for us now that we have gotten used to the way things are done here, its just a slight difference from what we are used to at the Night Safari. It was my turn to head out to chop branches for the bears with Mark. After getting enough branches from within the centre, Mark and I took a good walk out of the centre to collect shoots from a recently fallen banana tree. The bears seemed to love them quite a bit, having fun shredding and chewing them up, maybe its because banana shoots are especially succulent. (and of course making husbandry especially tedious picking up shredded leaves the next morning, but thats okay!) David and Daniel are the two permanent staff at BSBCC. Despite the slight language and maybe cultural barrier, I think the 3 of us really enjoy working with them. They’ve been extremely friendly and understanding with us.

I’ve written about how the bears are so aware of their claws and put them to good use. Here is a picture illustrating just that. The claws of these bears are very much like extended parts of their digits, never hesitating to grip confidently even onto such narrow grills. It is most unfortunate that some of the sun bears in the pet trade have had their claws cruelly removed. These bears not only suffer from excruciating pain from such a crude operation, but are doomed to life in captivity. Without these powerful claws, they would never be able to forage for food or climb trees to escape from predation.

I also observed how they evolved to have such thick muscular necks. While tackling the enrichments, they especially relied on this particular method of biting onto items tightly and thrashing their heads about. Very much an attempt to break of dislodge any item. Enrichments given to the grouped bears also revealed to us their individual heirachies. Sun Bears are naturally solitary animals. However, they tend to establish heirachies in captive environments, understandable as they feel the need to fight over resources.

The 3 of us enjoy watching the bears fussing over our enrichments, just like how we did back in Night Safari. Even the workers know this, making it a point to let us watch the bears in action. Its great fun watching the bears facing up to the challenge for their prized treats, knowing that they have something to think hard about, making their day that bit more interesting.
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We signed up for the night trek offered by Sepilok Nature Reserve. I must say that it was an awesome experience. Felt very much like walking into a scene in Jurassic Park or Avatar. The giant trees in the reserve had caught my eye since day 1, but staring at them directly from below was very much awe-inspiring. The crickets made a sound unlike any other I’ve heard, not in Singapore, not in Australia

Sandakan, Borneo: Day 4http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/604238339/sandakan-borneo-day-4

By SayLin Ong 
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I woke up to a minor scare this morning.. Couldn’t find the cat in the living room of our wooden house. She would usually be meowing away in the morning, and be at her most affectionate of moods(unlike now). I was relieved to find her curled up with Mark, sleeping away blissfully. I tried to go back to sleep, only to be woken up by what sounded like gun shots outside. There must have been at least 5 shots fired. We were told that our neighbours all had guns and hunted occasionally…
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Husbandry today was more thorough than yesterday’s. We made sure to scrub the cement walls properly this time.

The powerful back legs of the Sun Bears allowed them the freedom of putting their front limbs to good use, this meant they spent a lot of time ‘stepping’ against the walls too.

The dreary weather lifted in the afternoon, allowing us to conduct more enrichments for the bears. I finally witnessed Om stepping out of his den. He is visibly still lacking the confidence to venture out too far. He’d rather forgo his food reward than risk being too exposed. WaiPak entered Zone D to encourage Suria to come out though. Suria, being a young Sun Bear, was more adventurous and confidently roamed the outdoor yard. She has yet to understand the seriousness of the electric fence though.
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While I was helping WaiPak, Mark and Yuru once again did a great job with enrichments. They improved on yesterday’s design and increased the difficulty level for the bears. The idea was to simulate their natural environment, presenting them with challenges that forced them to ponder over how best to utilize their specially adapted claws and long tongue. Our challenge was to construct durable enrichments that would keep the bears stimulated for long periods of time.

We continued to suspend the wooden blogs with food smeared on it since the Sun Bears responded well yesterday. WaiPak had a brilliant idea of dripping honey down the suspend ropes. Its amazing how the bears were so conscious of their long claws. If we had nails that long, I’d expect us to be clumsy and overly careful not to break them. 

It is interesting to witness the individual personalities of each bear, how they reacted to conflict and competition. Some would stand their ground to fight, some would hestitate, others would back away without question.

While enrichment and socialization brings about more stimulation for the bears, I can only hope that such an arrangement in captivity will not encourage relatively more aggressive behaviours than their wild counterparts. This reminds me of the accusations that some scientists  have for Jane Goodall’s research in the past. Their claim was that her observations of violence amongst chimps was inaccurate as it is only understandable that animals compete over limited resources, be it a forest reserve or a captive environment. Wild animals outside of a reserve might face less competition and behave differently.
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Well, whatever it is, the current arrangement is still more favourable than having bears isolated in individual dens.

By SayLin Ong
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http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/601303234/sandakan-borneo-day-3

​Sandakan, Borneo: Day 3

Today was our first real day at work. Reported to BSBCC on an empty stomach and started off with husbandry work. There is this certain therapeutic feeling I get when I go through the routine of husbandry work. I can’t explain that, and the others can totally understand me. I am especially satisfied because its been a while since I quit the Night Safari, and I’m happy to be scrubbing, dy-sening(soaping) and squee-geeing the dens with my ex-colleagues once again. We got to know the bears individually and learnt of their backgrounds. I think we all have personal favourites now.
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We then proceeded with food preparations. I am glad that all 3 of us are experienced in food prep and husbandry, and I’d like to think that we did pretty well, finishing up husbandry quite promptly. Wai Pak has asked for feedback on their husbandry standards in comparison to the Night Safari. I think our one mistake was to automatically proceed with husbandry exactly the way we did back in Singapore. Hopefully in a few days time, we can try to stick to their methods and give some feedback.

We then proceeded with food preparations. It looked almost like a lovely buffet spread. Each feeding tray consisted of mainly porridge together with other ‘garnishes’ such as fruits, dog pellets and honey. I was curious to know why their diet was quite different from what they would have in the while.
This is afterall still phase 1 of the project and the bears are not ready for reintroduction into the wild. A steady supply of local wild fruits is extremely difficult to find. Therefore until the bears are confident enough to roam their outdoor enclosures, such a diet is more than adequate for them. This is a ‘recipe’ that many other zoos and conservation centres use as well. Animals with a constantly full stomach will naturally be more satisfied and less stressed, thus the reduced occurrence of pacing behaviour.

The afternoon was about making enrichments. Mark and Yuru did an excellent job with their experience from Night Safari.(Mark has some pictures) I helped with the upgrading of the outside forest enclosures, sawing and nailing together pieces of wood to erect makeshift fences to protect the bears from accidental electrocution by the fences.
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As always, it was always satisfying watching the animals respond to our enrichment ideas. Mark had fun climbing the dens to help tie the enrichments in the dens.

These holes were manually drilled into the wooden blocks and stuffed with tasty peanut butter, apple or banana puree and their favourite honey. It was most amusing watching her eat with such finesse, ‘finger’ lickin’ good indeed! 
We also met a very interesting English lady by the name of Annie, or affectionately known as Grandma Annie. She looks to be at least 60, and has been traveling to Sandakan for the last 12 years to volunteer in Sepilok. She met SiewTe 6 years ago and is now very much emotionally attached to the bears now. It is heartwarming to witness such passion from a senior lady from so far away, despite her eccentric way of talking that we weren’t used to.
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I’m looking forward to the coming weeks after our good start. Sunday tomorrow, which really doesn’t mean much here, because caring for these animals is a 24/7 job! We’ll be bringing our laptops to work tomorrow to help with admin work and writing out protocols for Wai Pak. Till tomorrow folks…

Sandakan, Borneo: Day 2http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/post/598475129/sandakan-borneo-day-2

​By Say Lin

Its 2333hrs back at the Staff Quarters. Wai Pak is across the table from me, having a Skype conversation with CEO of BSBCC, SiewTe. Its highly intriguing listening to their public discussion about the Sun Bears’ behaviours.. the things to look out for, the vocalizations, the facial expressions. I feel privileged to be able to experience but a tiny part of their very promising conservation project.
Day 2 was a very thought-provoking day. We got to see more of Sandakan during our medical check-up at the town clinic. It is standard procedure for volunteers in Sepilok Nature Reserve, as there is a likelihood of humans transmitting diseases to the resident Orang Utans at the centre. BSBCC is afterall situated within Sepilok Orang Utan Reserve.

When we talk about animals of Borneo, we usually think of the Orang Utans, the Proboscis Monkeys, the Asian Pygmy Elephant and Asian Rhino etc..  Its hard to believe that such a cute looking and atypical bear species have gone relatively unnoticed by the world.

Orang Utans are classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List with numbers ranging slightly above 30,000. Bornean Sun Bear populations are only approximately a third of that. Today, there are less than 10 researchers studying both subspecies of Sun Bears, both the Bornean and mainland Asian ones. They are so misunderstood in terms of their medicinal properties, their natural behaviours as well as their threat to humans. They are known as the forgotten bears of Asia, the least studied of all 8 species of bears in the world.
On our way to the new BSBCC facility itself, we got to see a rescued baby Asian Pygmy Elephant. The poor little one was caught in a snare in a plantation and got abandoned by its herd. Its foot still bears the painful scar from that barbaric device. Its been in quarantine for 3 months, awaiting its fate at a zoo in Malaysia. Orang Utans could be easily seen nearby, with juvenile ones still in training to prepare them for life in the wild.
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We finally got to see the 12 Sun Bears at the BSBCC facility. I must say that it is a brightly lit and well designed enclosure.What struck me most was how small the bears were, barely 1.3m in height, they are slightly smaller than their mainland Asia counterparts. Throughout our orientation of the facility, Wai Pak was most informative, explaining things to us in great detail.

As can be seen here, these highly arboreal bears are not clumsy at all. Their sense of balance will easily put many of us to shame. Their excellent climbing skills and balance allow them to access fruits high up in the trees, often from unstable platforms.

BSBCC is working closely with the Forestry Department as well as the Wildlife Department of Sabah. I managed to talk to Sylvia Alsisto, one of the main people in charge of the Sandakan Wildlife Department. She warmly welcomed me and talked positively about how she looked forward to sharing information with us, and how we can help the centre. Wai Pak then continued with a briefing intended for all volunteers at the centre.

From today, I have a better appreciation of the difficulties faced by Wong and co. I can clearly see the challenges faced by researchers who wish to set up such conservation projects, how it is a long drawn battle. I now better understand the type of collaboration needed with the government, the funding required from NGOs and where the money and manpower was needed. The details of such projects are slowly surfacing. BSBCC is still in its initial stages with an exciting future ahead.
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It was very nice of SiewTe to personally welcome us to the centre via Skype. I am most impressed by how he described the project not as one which harbours potential, but a project with success as a definite conclusion.

Last week there were three students from National Singapore University came to volunteer with us. SayLin, Mark, and Yuru who are majaring in biology, medicine and sociology, respectively. Over the next few days I will post their blogs to share their stories and experiences working with us...

Here is the first blog from Saylin which are also posted in his blog at http://12miles-out.tumblr.com/

​With his own words, SayLin wrote..

​the purpose.
My name is SayLin, and I’m a Biology Major in the National University of Singapore(NUS). I have a keen interest in Environmental Biology with an emphasis on Wildlife Conservation. The evolutionary processes that shape and drive the fascinating array of organisms also greatly interest me. I have just completed the 2nd year of my course, so hopefully my interest in this field will eventually get more specific.
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I am an ex-employee of Night Safari Singapore, having held the post of Junior Trainer Presenter in the Animal Presentations Department. More will be written about my experiences and feelings about my 1.5year stint there. I am the Sterilizations Officer in the NUS Cat Cafe, a part of the NUS Animal Welfare Society. I have been responsible for most of the systematic sterilizations of stray cats on campus. Apart from official commitments, I have taken on various voluntary opportunities in the field of Biology.
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Right now, I am in Sandakan, Sabah, East Malaysia, at the South-eastern tip of Borneo Island. My 3 weeks here is as a volunteer at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre(BSBCC) by Researcher Wong Siew Te. I am here with 3 other ex colleagues from Night Safari. This opportunity was kindly provided by Prof Sivasothi from my course in NUS.

This here is Jelita, one of 12 rescued sun bears in the centre. The 12 bears in BSBCC are either victims of the illegal pet trade(cruelly taken after having their mothers shot by hunters) or transferred from zoos. Jelita and the rest of the bears have benefited from Wong’s hard work, having recently moved into the new BSBCC facility.
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Apparently, everywhere in Sandakan is referenced by how far it is from the town centre. So right now, this blog is set up at the BSBCC Staff Quarters - 12 miles out. This blog will be about my various experiences in this field.

​Posted May 13, 2010 at 2:19pmSandakan, Borneo: Day 1
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​The day started off very apprehensively for me. Months of preparations and arrangements led to today, and still I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The internet can only provide that much information, and I only have my experience in Sibu, Sarawak back in 2004 as a comparison. My cousin works here in Sandakan though, but its at least 2 hours drive from where I am, with Sungai Kinabatangan, the largest river in Sabah to cross.

This is the living room of our nice wooden house, with a Sun Bear photo amongst many others at the top right hand corner. Its almost like living in a Biology lab really, fascinating maps and photos of animals all around, actual feathers on the walls and even some skulls displayed. We were greeted by 5 resident dogs, and a litter of 7 puppies! We also share our rooms with a cat. Oh, and we have a resident Brown Wood Owl with us too, a rescue animal that is not fit to be released back into the wild. The 3 of us, being animal lovers with our own pets, feel very much at home amongst the lovely critters. (I’m distracted now by the cat chasing a cricket across the floor.)
More pictures to come of my 4-legged and feathered housemates. Medical check-up and orientation of BSBCC facility tomorrow. Can’t wait to see the Sun Bears. Must sleep now. Cheers all.
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*Mark’s blog of our Borneo Adventures @ http://matahari-bears.tumblr.com/