Text by Seng Yen Wah
​Photos by Chiew Lin May

After a year, it’s time for the bears to do their annual health check.
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We really appreciate Dr.Pakeeyaraj Nagalingam, who is a Veterinarian from the Sabah Wildlife Department, Wildlife Rescue Unit, to conduct this health check for all the bears in BSBCC with his valuable time and great efforts. 

Each bear requires a full general anesthetic with the purpose of putting them under sedation for doing an extensive health check. After the bear has been darted, it takes some time for the bears to be sufficiently sedated. The bear can only be carried out from the cage once they are sedated enough.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/22/two-rare-malayan-sun-bears-found-in-abandoned-cambodian-garment-factory/
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, February 22, 2013 9:15 EST

Topics: Malayan sun bear ? Malayan sun bears ? Wildlife Alliance
 Two rare Malayan sun bears have been rescued in Cambodia after being discovered in an abandoned garment factory, a zoo official said Friday.
The male and female bears were rescued by officials from the Phnom Tamao Zoo and the Wildlife Alliance, who found them in the factory in southern Kandal province last week, according to zoo director Nhek Rattanak Pich.
“The bears were left with no food and no one to care for them after the factory owner fled the country,” the Wildlife Alliance said on its website.


 
The group said local authorities had called them after the bears were found in purpose-built cages at the factory, which closed without notice in December.
The bears are now being cared for at the zoo, its director said, adding that he did not know why they had been kept at the factory.
The Malayan sun bear is found primarily in Southeast Asia and is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Bears are among many species that have been decimated by wildlife trafficking in Asia, which is fuelled in large part by China’s massive appetite for exotic meats and animal parts for traditional medicine.
 
 
 
 

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/2/19/nation/12728505&sec=nation


Tuesday February 19, 2013
By ISABELLE LAI

isabellelai@thestar.com.my


PETALING JAYA: Animal activists and conservationists want those behind the fatal poisoning of a horse and a Sun Bear at the Malacca Zoo to be caught, prosecuted and punished severely.


Dr Sharmini Paramasivam, of zoo animal welfare group myZOO, said a thorough investigation must be carried out to determine the motive behind the poisoning.


“We must take this very seriously and ensure our animals are not suffering. Placing animals in captivity means taking full responsibility for their well-being and health,” she said.


Zoo Negara deputy director Dr Muhammad Danial Felix described the killing as a “national outrage”.


Condemning the crime, he said the guilty must be harshly punished.
“Maintaining tight security at the zoo, including during the feeding of animals, is extremely important.


“If it is found to be an inside job, the culprit may killed the animals as a way to get noticed,” he said.


Wong Siew Te, founder of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, said the sun bear was a “Totally Protected species” in the peninsula, adding that the maximum penalty for killing such animals under the new Wildlife Conservation Act (2010) was a fine of RM100,000 and a jail term of up to three years.
The Sun Bear is classified as “vulnerable species” in the IUCN Red Book Listing of Threatened Species in 2007.


Wong said its global population had been declining over the past 30 years and if the trend continued, it would join the “Endangered Species” or “Critically” endangered species.


“The punishment for this crime should be significant and widely reported to deter potential offenders and raise awareness, “ he added.
Malacca SPCA chairman Vincent Low described the poisoning as a “dastardly and uncouth” act.


He said the heinous crime could be an inside job or committed by former workers who still had access to the animal enclosures.


Animal Concerns Research and Education Society executive director Louis Ng said the zoo management should take urgent measures to ensure only authorised staff were allowed into enclosures or places where animals were fed.
Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic South-East Asia's regional director Dr William Schaedla said that if the poisoning was found to be premeditated and intentional, the culprit must be prosecuted and harshly punished.

​Related Stories:

Perhilitan sends team to probe deaths
Cops on the trail of animal killers

Sunday November 4, 2012

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/11/4/nation/12271574&sec=nation

KOTA KINABALU: How a sun bear cub ended up at a car porch of a house in Damai, a bustling housing area here, is likely to remain a mystery.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said the three-month-old female cub found by a resident two days ago could have been illegally reared.

“When our officers went back to the place to ask about it the next morning, no one owned up to it,” he said.

Damai is a mere 10-minute drive from here.
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Ambu said those found guilty of rearing or possessing protected species such as the Borneon sun bear could face a mandatory jail term between one month and a year.
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The presence of the 4kg cub was known when the dog belonging to the house owner Blue Lum, 38, kept barking on Thursday night.

The cub is now at the Lok Kawi zoo. It will be sent to the Sepilok Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Centre.

Text by Gloria Ganang and photo by Siew Te Wong

​​
Koko, a female sun bear yearling has been joining Mary and Debbie (both female sun bear yearlings) for almost a month now. Koko came into the BSBCC earlier this year on the 20th February. She was transferred to Mary and Debbie’s den a month after her arrival which is after her quarantine period. Although it was a new environment for Koko at the beginning to share dens with other bears, she did very well gradually adjusting herself and getting along with her new mates. Koko connected with Debbie almost instantly during their first encounter with each other. Debbie, being the playful one among them is such an essential work out pal for Koko. They would tease, climb around and play chase with each other besides sharing their enrichment toys.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/hutt-news/6939363/Eastbourne-resident-fundraises-for-Jonny-the-sunbear


Eastbourne resident fundraises for Jonny the sunbear
KAROLINE TUCKEY
A Lower Hutt woman was so moved by the plight of an Indonesian sun bear she's started a fundraising campaign to build it a new enclosure.

Small steps: Carol Gorham of Lowry Bay hopes Lower Hutt schools and residents will get behind her campaign to help build a new enclosure for Jonny the sun bear.Carol Gorham has never seen Jonny the bear in person, but conservationist friends emailed her about his plight, and sent her photos from his home in Seblat near Bengkulu city on Indonesia's Sumatran island.

''His cage is two metres by one, which is really tiny for him. He can barely stand up in it, and he's out in the hot sun as well, which is awful,'' Mrs Gorham says. Sun bears can reach five foot when standing.

Unfortunately Sumatran jungles, which still house some of the world's biggest wild animals like tigers, bears and elephants, are seen as easy targets for poachers.

Mrs Gorham's friends are on the island working to rescue elephants and say the bear was formerly an illegal pet that was confiscated.

He is now being cared for by a veterinarian who works at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Seblat, but with no facilities and no finances to buy proper feed, Jonny's not being kept in ideal conditions.

''When I read about it it's really upsetting, and I thought I can try and do something for this one,'' she says.

''It annoys me when people say it's only one bear, that's not the point.''
Jonny is not a wild bear, so Mrs Gorham's first thought was that a zoo would be the best place for him. Unfortunately, after making extensive enquiries, all the zoos she called in Indonesia are not able to take him.

''They are very poor, and have poor conditions, and just can't take another one, so I'm trying to find funding.''

Mrs Gorham says she hopes to raise an initial $3,000 to take care of basic costs for Jonny, like food and medical care and to draw up plans for a suitable enclosure to be built for him. In the long term she would like to raise a total of $10,000 to build the enclosure.

She hopes Lower Hutt schools might take up the cause by learning about Jonny and holding fundraising events.

She is also selling a range of skincare products each week at the Eastbourne market and on TradeMe, with all the profits going to Jonny's cause.

While Ms Gorham says she's in this for the long haul and recognises the project may take a couple of years, she says one day there's the potential for the rescue centre Jonny is living at to be turned into a popular ecotourism attraction, and hopes a new cage for Jonny might help.
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The same vet that is caring for Jonny is also looking after a rare Sumatran tiger that was found caught in a trap in the jungle, and had to have both front paws amputated, she says. ''That needs help too, but you've got to start somewhere.''
Carol Gorham's can also be contacted about the fundraising project for Jonny on 589 9050 or carol.gorham@xtra.co.nz
- Hutt News
​

http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/2012/05/17/the-bears-thank-you/
By
Suzanne Hall
Photo: Siew Te Wong
​– May 17, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Pandas, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Enrichment toys are vital for a recovering sun bear's health. Photo courtesy of BSBCC


Several months ago, we put out a call via our Animal Care Wish List asking for donations to provide enrichment items for the sun bears housed with our new collaborative partner, the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). You responded generously, and I am pleased to say we were able to send six new toys to the bears at the BSBCC. Thank you so much for your generosity!


The sun bear is a rare bear whose habitat is dwindling rapidly under pressure from deforestation. Primary causes of forest loss include illegal timber extraction and the development of palm oil plantations. Very few studies of wild sun bears have been conducted, and a population census of this species, or the Bornean subspecies, has never been conducted. However, their numbers must surely be on the decline as their habitat steadily shrinks.
​

One of my objectives is to find more opportunities to conduct research with sun bears, to learn more about them and facilitate conservation of this species. We have had the opportunity to observe the growth and development of four sun bear cubs born to our resident female, Marcella, but a larger sample size of animals was needed to conduct any statistically meaningful research into various aspects of their biology. Enter the BSBCC.

Siew Te Wong founded the BSBCC in Sabah, Borneo, to serve as a rescue and rehabilitation facility for orphaned and injured sun bears. “Wong,” as he is called, had conducted field work on these animals but recognized the need to provide care for bears impacted by forest loss and the illegal pet trade. In only 4 years of operation, the BSBCC has accumulated more than 20 sun bears. Some are destined for Wong’s developing reintroduction program, which will see them repatriated to the wild in time. Others are not good candidates for release and will likely live out their years at the BSBCC.

Thankfully, the BSBCC goes the extra mile to ensure a good home for its sun bears. It has several large outdoor pens that are essentially areas of enclosed natural habitat: giant trees, heavy canopy, soft forest soil, and a multitude of plants and bugs for the bears to enjoy. The enclosures are so natural that wild monkeys and birds often cruise in and perch in the canopy of their trees. The bears are carefully managed so that agreeable animals can be housed together as playmates when possible. Even so, there are so many of these animals that on any given day a few of the bears will be rotated inside so others can enjoy the outside spaces.

The BSBCC likes to provide enrichment for their indoor animals to ensure that their environment remains as stimulating as possible. And that’s where you come in. Your donations helped to aid in maintaining a quality of life for these bears that ensures their physical and emotional well-being. The photos here demonstrate that the bears are enjoying the toys immensely!

We are excited about developing our partnership with the BSBCC into a research opportunity. This will aid in the conservation of the smallest bear on Earth and could lend insight into the bear family tree. We know from our past work, for example, that sun bear mothers and panda mothers are very similar in their attentive maternal-care styles, and both pandas and sun bears differ from the less active hibernating bears like brown and black bears. What other similarities and differences between the bear species will we find?
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Your gifts of enrichment were the first step in what I hope will be a long and informative road that leads to new discoveries about sun bears. Thank you again.

Text by Gloria Ganang and Siew Te Wong



Photos by Siew Te Wong
​

Koko's quarantine period has ended two weeks ago. A health check on her was performed late last months and the results showed that she is healthy and free from any disease. Today we started the first step of the integration and introduce her to our sun bear cub/yearling group. She was transferred to a new den next to another two sun bear cub/yearling, Mary and Debbie around 11.30 am.

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Koko's original den is located at the opposite site of the hallway from the youngsters. We use two pieces of plywood to make a corridor and lure Koko with honey to her new den. The process was much easier than we thought.

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Koko seemed pleased with her new transfer, wandering and sniffing around her new cage, checking out the enrichment that was prepared for her.


Best of all, she has now got new friends to interact with after a long period of isolation. 

Text and photos by Siew Te Wong



We integrated Debbie the sun bear cub with Mary and Fulung for the first time on March 10th. The entire process started 10 days earlier on Feb 28th when we moved Mary at opposite side of the hall way to the den next to Debbie. Debbie's reaction toward Mary was very strong, huffing and barking on a defensive way whenever Mary made a move. Lack of sun bear's communication skills, poor Mary seemed to be confused and do not know what to do except sucking her feet (Mary suckles when she wants to seek comfort). We have to keep the den between Debbie and Mary empty to reduce contact between the two young bears because of Debbie's reaction.


The next day Debbie seemed to accept Mary's presence. She did not seem to be defensive nor aggressive and did not bark and huff at Mary like what she did a day before. She just watched Mary on a very curious way. We let Mary entered the middle empty den so that both bears can have contacts through the bars. Immediately Debbie was very interested on Mary, touching and scratching her gently whenever Debbie can reach Mary through the bars. Sometime Mary responded to Debbie by playing with her. However, Debbie was more proactive while Mary just sitting there to suckle her feet without paying much attention to Debbie. The induction between Debbie and Mary seem fine through the bars.


The next step was to move Fulung the yearling male sun bear on March 3rd to join Mary so that three of the sun bear yearling/cubs can be place together as a group. This time Debbie did not react much to the presence of Fulung. She seemed just fine to have Fulung as her neighbor without any conflict or aggression over the following week.
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Finally the big day arrived on March 10th, we integrated Debbie with Fulung and Mary. Fulung is about one year and four months old. He is the biggest and oldest among the three bears. Mary is about one year and two months old and Debbie is the youngest, age about 8 month. Here I let the photos speak for themselves:

In order to prevent them from being too excited when first meet, we scattered their fruit snack- pumpkin and banana on that afternoon, on the floor. Just like what we expected, Fulung (left) and Debbie (right) get busy searching and eating their afternoon snack: banana (preferred) first, and pumpkin later. Mary was at the back of the den, checking out Amaco (an old male bear) behind the wall.

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After tens of minutes, Fulung started to feel boring and left Debbie.

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Now is Mary's turn to play with Debbie (right).peI can tell by now Debbie (left) is very tired. She just wanted to lie down on her back and push Mary (right) away.At the end of the day, both bears are so tired!
 
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Caged, pet sun bears have a sad life. From the day they were captured and kept as pet, most of them will NEVER touch the soil, climb the trees, and dig the ground again.

Many of our rescued sun bears also have the same fate. However, with our state of the art forest enclosure, the rescued sun bears at BSBCC have the chance to enjoy the forest.
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Bermuda, a 10 year old male sun bear at BSBCC, was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department on October 10, 2002. He live on a concrete floor since he was captured from the wild as a little sun bear cub. For him, the ground is always a smooth layer of concrete floor, until today.

Bermuda finally passed his electric fence training lately. We let him out to his forest enclosure for the first time on Valentine Day Feb 14th. We put food, and honey (all time favorite food for bears) on the ramp to encourage/lure him out of his den. What he did that entire day was pocked his head out to reach the food and honey on the ramp without stepping a foot on the ramp.

This is a very pathetic story for all caged sun bears. To all of them, confined and locked up in a small cage is life. They do not know the world beyond the cage. Rain, soil, trees, leaf litters and other natural vegetations and natural elements in the forest all are something that they never come in contact. The only time when they walked on the forest floor was during the first few weeks or months of their life, until their mothers were killed and they were captured by poachers. To them, forest is an alien nation, fills with unknown bugs and unknown noise; the place that is so strange, unsecure and uncertain. All of our adult bears decided to stay inside the den and not wondering into the forest enclosure when we released them out to the forest enclosure for the first time. It sometime took them weeks if not months to wonder out from their den. Only the young once would go out immediately and enjoy the forest without second thoughts.
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Bermuda's reaction when we let him out to the forest enclosure was not exception on Valentine Day. Over the next week or so he still kept himself safe under the protection of his den although the door to forest enclosure was staying open all day long. The food that we left on the ramp and the forest floor has attracted troops of forest bandits - pig-tailed macaques and long-tailed macaques, to enjoy their free meals. Bermuda, sometime I questioned his "male-hood," just stood in his den and watched his food being stolen away by these intelligent primates.