Text by Ezi Nurayu binti Abd Wahab (UMS Intern Student)
Photos by Seng Yen Wah & Chiew Lin May
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Along, the beautiful name given by his previous owner. Yes! He is a male sun bear. He is rescue bear 49. Before he came to BSBCC, he was placed at Mini Zoo Hot Spring in Tawau and was displayed with Simone, a female sun bear, in the same enclosure. Both of them were surrendered to the Sabah Wildlife Department in early January 2016. After that, they were quarantined at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.

​Along showed his aggressiveness once the transportation cage was being moved and he was continually barking. He was pacing fast inside the cage and kept barking at people passing through. Maybe he felt threatened due to the new environment. But, no worries, Along! You will be safe here. Big hug!

At the time they were integrated, Along became hyperactive once he met Simone. 
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During my observation of Along, he kept climbing on his cage and looking in Simone’s cage to see Simone. I am so confident that he wanted to play with Simone at that time.

​Along did his fence training in August 2016 and he successfully passed in that session. Finally, Along knew how to prevent himself from getting zapped by the electric fence. He was one step closer to the forest enclosure. Bravo Along!

​Along’s first time stepping out to the forest was on March 19th, 2017. He improvised to adapt in the new environment. He knew not to go close to the electric fence. He was very alert with his surroundings. He kept looking into the next enclosure to see them and what they did. 

As you can see in photo,, Along is frequently climbing up his cage to get himself into the basket. Then, he will take a nap in there. He is easily woken up by noise made by the other bears. So, that is why he only sleeps for a little while.

​Along was enjoying himself finding the hidden dog biscuits inside the dry leaves. He is actually a very good food explorer. He is enrichments number 1 lover. No doubt! He wants to be the first to receive the enrichment from the bear keeper. Or else he will bark at you and make some noise! You can see his hot temper in this situation for sure!

By looking at Photo 7 above, don’t you feel scared? He has strong canines! But, do not worry, no harm on you! Because……he is in his cage!
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He was readying himself to play with the enrichment in a standing position. He was struggling to take out the food inside the enrichment by using his long tongue. When he could not take it out, he then lost his temper. Either he tried to break the enrichment or paced in his cage.

​Along was enjoying himself by playing with his swing honeycomb enrichment. He successfully pulled out the ginger leaves (on the floor already) from the honeycomb. Later then, he used the power of his strong sensory skills to explore the honey inside and licked it out by using his tongue.

​As you can see in photo, he used his maximum energy to destroy the rotten wood. He was digging up the wood by using his strong claws and long tongue. He maximized the enrichment usage. No waste to the playful things is Along’s motto! Not to forget, he is a very good enrichment breaker too!

​You know what? Along’s enjoyment of the enrichment can be clearly shown when he plays with the Aussie dog ball and the fire hose pocket. He played with them until his body rolled him up like a swiss roll. But, a black swiss roll version of course! Unfortunately, I cannot video him to show you. I only have words and for sure you can imagine how funny he is in that time, can’t you?

​Based on my observations of Along, I have found out he paces back and forth, especially in the morning and while not in feeding time yet. He is a very good eater and his food is always finished. He can only sleep for a little while because he is easily woken due to noise which mostly he stays and sleeps on the basket in his cage. 
 
To Along,
Whatever your personality is, we still forever love you.
Enjoy your time in your current place.
Because one day, you will leave this centre and us as well!
Let’s fight together to achieve your dream to go to your original habitat soon!
Stay healthy, always……

Text by Fetysella Olyndra Juli
Photos by Chiew Lin May

Everyone of these three bears has their own history, especially Simone and Along, both of them were kept in a Mini Zoo Hot Springs in Tawau while Kudat was kept on display in a private mini zoo with another female sun bear named Panda. Kudat was formerly named after the district of Kudat even though he originally is from Tawau. Along is a 6 year old male bear, Simone is a 8 year old female bear, and Kudat is 7 years old adult male sun bear. Kudat, Simone and Along were then surrendered by the Sabah Wildlife Department to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC).

Upon arrival at the BSBCC, the three bears showed their different personalities, where Along is considered to be more energetic and hyperactive, Simone is calm while, Kudat on the other side can sometimes be aggressive towards other bears, as has happened in the past when integrated with another female sun bear Panda. But Kudat is also playful even though he plays rough. Since all three bears are kept in the same row of cages, at first, we integrated Along and Simone. Along becomes somewhat hyperactive when meeting with Simone and at times he will start to pace back and forth at a  fast rate when Simone is in the same room. 

During the integration process interactions between Along and Simone became more and more aggressive, so the decision was made, to slow down the integration intervals. After possible times of no aggression Simone tries to play with Along, which will result in likelihood of Along developing aggressiveness towards Simone due to her manor of play. Sometimes Simone will be the aggressor and we realized that, as Along pacing can not be interrupted as long as Simone is in the same cage. The occurrence of any kind of aggression therefore is unpredictable.

Then, we decided to integrate Simone with Kudat. The first results of the integration process were positive, both bears played together, even though Kudat play very known to be rough. The first time Kudat met Simone, he started to sniff Simone first especially her sex organs. Realizing that Simone is a female sun bear, Kudat became excited and begin to play with her. We have been having integration sessions for a few days and so far no aggression occurred. 

Then, we proceeded on to our next mission, which was the integration of Kudat and Along. First we were quite concerned, because both are male sun bears, and aggressive behavior is more likely to happen. Surprisingly, both Along and Kudat got along well, Kudat approached Along and sniffed him out first. Then, Kudat try to play with Along. Along struggled at first a bit, because of Kudat rough play. However, after some time, Along got used to it. After a few days of integration sessions between Along and Kudat, no aggression occurred.

Now, our final task is to introduce Simone into the group. First, we placed Along and Kudat in the same cage. Then, we opened Simones cage to get access to the males. At first, when Simone entered the cage (where Along and Kudat were playing), she did not pay attention, she just passed by. But we realized that even with Simone present, Along did not start to pace and continued to play with Kudat. Once he stop playing with Kudat, Along showed positive results towards both Simone and Kudat. This process continued for quite some time and there was aggression noticed. It seems that the presence of Kudat affects the situation between Along and Simone, but when we fed the bears coconuts during their integration session, Simone showed to be the dominant in the group. This may be due to Simone being the oldest in the group. In the end, we hope that, these three bears can continue to integrate well and can go out to forest enclosure together in the future. 

BSBCC is a place where I have lovely experience for both my volunteering days and my school tour. Back when I was still a student from Yu Yuan Secondary School on 2013, I had a precious chance to visit BSBCC with my classmates along with teachers before it was opened one year later. It’s a fruitful and fabulous tour as we could see the bears which we have never seen. In addition, the staffs were telling a lot of interesting facts to us and the ways we can conserve these cute creatures. At that time, I hope that I could do something for the bears. 

​However, I have postponed the plan until three years later. It’s my summer vacation of my university, so I decided to join BSBCC as a volunteer for a month. On my first induction, I was given instructions and rules I have to obey. This boosted me up and I really can’t wait for it to be started. 

Morning

Ok! I have to drive 10 miles daily from home to work on early morning. As volunteer, I was offered a chance to stay in Bjorn Hala, a staff house which accommodates some staffs and volunteers but it’s a bit crowded then. On morning, we are assigned to different works according to the schedule but usually we have to prepare the foods or do fence checking first. Fence checking is an inspection of the voltage of our fences surrounding the forest enclosures and confirmation of the bears staying in the forest. We have to remove some branches trapped between the fences which lower the voltage. After that, we back to bear house and do our following works. Sometimes, I was assigned to clean cages. At first, I felt that the faeces and the dirt in the cage smelled unpleasant. After one month of “training”, I can say loudly that I can endure and get used to it already haha!

In cleaning cages, I learned that the faeces of the bear reflect what they eat and the different behaviour of different bears. A few naughty bears love to distract and disturb me from the neighbouring cages and when they grab the things, I can barely get it back due to their overpower strength. In doing kitchen works, I also learn of what bears eat every day and some special diet for some bears. 

Afternoon
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After preparing the second meal of porridge, we will go outside feeding. Outside feeding enables me to see bears playing in the forest in a short distance and have trained my stamina on carrying buckets of fruits and walk on the forest. When feeding is done, we will do some enrichment for the bears. Bears do pacing while they stress out. Some may injure themselves by doing so. The purpose of doing enrichment is to reduce their pacing behaviour and somehow encourage their climbing and foraging skills. I really enjoy this activity. It gives me a sense of achievement when the bears play it and try to suck the foods out. 

After coming here, I start to differentiate each bear by looking at its appearance other than its unique chest mark. I also understand how complex the process of placement of bear from integration to fence training to forest enclosure and finally release is. The release of bear requires a lot of energy and money but it allows the bear to enjoy the wild again. Our bears all have sad past when they were still cubs. So I really hope that they can live happily afterwards. 

Mr Wong, the CEO & Founder of BSBCC is a kind and knowledgeable wildlife biologist who has studied sun bear for 20 years. He always shares his stories and experience with us during his free time. He has a lot of books inside the office and he can always remember where the information comes from. His stories of building up the BSBCC and sacrificing his personal life are really inspiring. Other than sun bear, Mr Wong study birds well too. After I tried his foods, I believe he will become a famous chef if he didn’t become a wildlife biologist. 

I would like to thank all the staffs, especially the bear keepers and maintenance team which I always work with (Forgive me for not mention the names one by one). Given my limited ability to speak Malay, they can still communicate with me well. They are so friendly and patient in teaching me the ways to use some equipment. We have chit-chatting a lot and know about each other well. I also love to listen to their working experience and other stories.

Along, a 6 year old male bear and Simone, an 8 year old female bear, are the newest arrivals at BSBCC. Both of them were kept in a Mini Zoo and Hot Springs in Tawau. In the January of 2016, they were surrendered to the Sabah Wildlife Department and were quarantined at Lok Kawi Zoo, Kota Kinabalu.

​Along and Simone arrived on the same day. Along the journey, the hot weather and long hours meant they had gone through a lot in a same day. When Along first arrived at BSBCC, he was pacing aggressively inside the cage and kept barking at people, especially when they went close to him. Compared to Along, Simone was much calmer. Bear keepers used a lot of effort to move them to our cages. Now BSBCC is their new home.

In the very first week, the bear house was still a very new and strange place for them. Most of the time they stayed on the basket. They were very alert, especially Along. When people got close to Along, he would give them a warning bark and showed aggressiveness. Simone adapted faster than Along in this new environment. She likes to explore the enrichment. Before they were here, bear keepers prepared enrichment for them such as dry leaves and decayed wood. Simone shows a lot of curiosity and interest in the enrichment.

​Besides that, they had no appetite in the beginning. This may be because we serve foods which are different than what they usually have and they were still very alert with the environment. Hence, we started to introduce different foods to them like nicely cut papaya, watermelon and so on. Lastly, we found out that both of them like to drink oats with milk. When we brought them the tray, they climbed down from the basket and waited for you and it’s their favourite food as well. Besides that, Simone loves honey. Conversely, Along likes coconut. Along likes to spend his time opening the coconut. When he swapped cage with Simone, he ate Simone’s coconut too. Simone did not mind her coconut being eaten by Along. 

Now they have a good appetite. Along appears less aggressive. He spends more time exploring the environment through staying on the ground with dry leaves and dead woods. Simone spends most of her time on the enrichment. Besides this, she enjoys resting on the basket or sitting on the water container too. Now they are better, Along and Simone are staying happily in BSBCC.