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Text by Emily Tan Yu En Photo by Chiew Lin May On January 18th 2015, Montom was rescued by the Sabah Wildlife Rescue Unit from Kampung Melangkap, Kota Marudaand sent him to BSBCC on 21st of January, 2015. The story reported to the Wildlife Rescue Unit was the owner’s dog chased away Montom’s mother and she left him behind. He was taken and kept as a pet for a year in a chicken wire mesh cage and fed with human food. The owner was willing to surrender Montom to the Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit. We introduced Montom to the other sub-adult group and was pleased to see him get along well with all the bears. After a few years, Montom is no longer a sub-adult bear so we’re going to let him join the adult bear group and let other sub-adult bears to join in his previous group. Montom was introduced to the adult bears which included Rungus, Ah Lun, Julaini, Ah Bui and Fulung. Montom was introduced one-by-one for the first six days as he will feel surprise and afraid if he meet all the bears at the same time. At first, Montom played well with all the bears but Rungus and Ah Bui didn’t really likes to play with him as they will stay on aside or rest on the enrichment in the buffer cage. Few days later, all the bears play along with him and they’re trying learn to understand each other better even though sometimes they play rough to each other. They play around and chase each other and no aggression found during the whole integration. Here are some photos during the integration of Montom with other adult bears. Integration Montom with Julaini and Ah Lun Integration Montom with Rungus and Fulung After all the integration, we let Montom join with the adult bear group to the enclosure .They will move around in the enclosure searching for food. Montom get to learn some surviving skills from the bears such as climbing, self-defence, digging and others.
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Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May Joe, a three month old sun bear cub, was found by a person alone in the forest at Kg.Kipaku, Tambunan. The person then sent the cub to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park on the 12th of April 2018. The bear arrived on the 22nd of January 2019. We believe that Joe was stolen from his mother in the wild. Joe appeared tame and would suckle his hind paws which are believed to be a result from being kept as a pet for long periods in captivity. He needs to learn all the skills he will require to survive in the wild – skills that he would have learnt from his mother. We decided to introduce Joe with two resident cubs. Joe recently completed his quarantine period. He is now one year old and weighs 22kg. On the 22nd of February 2019, Joe made his first new friends! Once Joe entered the den, Logan and Romolina started to greet him by growling! Both started sniffing around while Joe was busy with exploring the new den first. Once the door opened, Logan started to play fight by biting and rolling with Joe. Logan has shown to be a more fun-loving bear that always initiates play with Joe. They can wrestle for hours and hours…nonstop PLAY!! Logan began spending more time with Joe while Romolina always seemed curious and she would paw Joe in a gentle way. Romolina would still like to maintain her independence and is less interested in joining to play. We found Joe being hugged by Logan when they met. Joe has had a new experience by learning how to defend himself during play fights and wrestling. We are glad to see Joe has been having a good time with his new friends, Logan and Romolina. These three bears have a close bond and share their food or enrichment together too. Little Romolina and Logan were quick to accept Joe. The three bears have been venturing out to the larger exercise dens which are filled with different types of enrichment. They share their dens which can enrich Joe’s life and help stimulate his natural behaviour. They enjoy playing, exploring and making us fall in love with their beautiful smiles!
This is important for the rescued bears to help them recover from trauma and start to put their past behind them. Interactions between Joe, Logan and Romolina have shown to be positive. Joe now has a place full of love. Hopefully, this relationship can help Joe become a more confident and stronger bear! Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May  On the 2nd of March 2017, a sun bear cub was handed over to the Sabah Wildlife Department named BJ. He was found after being purchased in Sonsogon village, Pitas, and was sold for the price of RM 300 and then was kept as a pet. He arrived at BSBCC on the 22nd of November, 2018. He is a two year old, sub adult male bear weighing 32.20kg. After living alone in a cage, BJ was finally free from trauma and now has made some friends for the first time in his life. On the 14th of December 2018, BJ was integrated into a larger social group of female bears – Kina, Sika, Soo and Diana, who would help him adjust to his new life and learn how to be a bear again!  Integration with Kina  Integration with Sika  Integration with Soo  Integration with Diana Here we can see how the introduction went:  Nose to nose – bear GREETING!  Approaches  Pawing  Showing canines  Fun with biting and chasing  Seem to be friends  Getting along well As soon as BJ saw his new friends, he stood up on his hind legs, began sniffing and pawing them to start play fighting! They showed their strong canines and sharp claws!  He was such a handsome and kind bear towards the group. It is good to know that he is welcomed by them and they also rely on each other for comfort, protection and love. Although sun bears are by nature solitary animals in the wild, the bond between a mother and her cub is strong during the time they are together. During the integration, sun bears can learn from each other as they communicate and play together.    BJ has proven himself to be a friendly bear. He also smiles which shows a few wrinkles on his face.  It is great that BJ has accepted this wonderful new friendship. Kina and Sika are BJ’s bear play friends.  Sometimes, BJ wants to play with Soo and Diana, but both of the female bears seem to ignore him. Once BJ started sharing the large dens with the other female bears, he immediately began exploring. He has found the simple pleasure of good friends. He is a happy go lucky bear who loves running around the dens and convinces the others to play with him by sniffing or pulling them. He is always filled with curiosity and enjoys exploring the enrichment around the dens.  They spend their days wandering around the dens, digging up the dead wood, climbing on the structural enrichment and sharing their toys. They are doing things together and seem to enjoy each other’s company.      That is a good thing, as they can learn from each other For the rest of their first week together, there was no aggression found and they were accepting of each other as it did not take too long for them to become social. Now he has four lovely female bears to keep him company. It was a delight to see him grow into a healthy and loving bear where he could truly be himself. Text & Photos by Seng Yen Wah Soo is a four year old female, sub adult bear. She was purchased with the price of RM350 when she was still a cub in Karamatoi Village in Sook Keningau market. After that, she was kept as a house pet in Nambayan village in Tambunan for two years. She was rescued by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and transferred to BSBCC on the 8th of September, 2017. Soo is very alert with her surroundings. She easily gets stressed and starts to pace aggressively when she hears loud, machine noises. This stereotypic behaviour is the consequence of her past life of living as a caged pet. She took a long time to adapt herself. There must be a way to help her more. Maybe it is time for her to have bear friends! Let’s introduce you Soo’s friends, Diana (12 years old female adult bear), Kina (three years old female sub adult bear), and Sika (two years old female sub adult bear). Kina and Sika integrated on the 19th of November 2017. After that, Diana joined Kina and Sika on 13th of April 2018. And on the 2nd of September 2018, Soo meet them all for the first time. Soo is curious about the appearance of a new bear beside her cage. She sniffed on the sliding door. The sliding door opens slowly and Sika is waiting for her at another side. This is the first time Soo met a bear. Soo is anxious. She vocalized with Sika when Sika came close. She would like to play with Sika but she doesn’t know how to do it. She shows defensive behaviour which Sika does not like. Therefore the first time is not pleasant.  Soo is sniffing on the sliding door because Sika just at another side of the door.  First met with Sika is not pleasant.  Soo is standing higher to defend herself. The second day of integration is Kina’s turn. Kina shows more curiosity about Soo. She tried to initiate play fight with Soo, who is still nervous about her first friendship. Soo demonstrates a big response to Kina’s approach, but this did not stop Kina and still tried getting close to her. If Soo is being stressed at the moment, Kina will not disturb her.  “This is not the bear that I met yesterday!” – Soo  Kina and Soo is having almost the same size! Soo took her time and she tried her best to become friends with Diana, Kina and Sika. They are getting along well now! Only sometimes, Diana is on her temper and shows her aggression to Sika and Soo by vocalizing. But, there would never be a problem for them to stay together. They play fight with whoever they want. They share their food and also rest together. It is so good to see Soo’s improvement since her first arrival. We really hope Soo can live in a better life with her bear friends and we hope to see her grow into a strong and brave bear!  Never getting bored in playing fight!  They are having a good time!  Every bear have an Aussie Dog Ball. This is fair enough!  Eat together and share later! Text by Seng Yen Wah Photos by Chiew Lin May & Seng Yen Wah  Bintang was originally known as Ronnie, named after her previous owner who surrendered the bear to the BSBCC on July 15, 2014. Bintang was just a five months old female sun bear cub and weighed 7.9kg when she arrived in BSBCC. Her history is unknown. Owners who find Sun bear cubs will attempt to reason for holding them captive, but no explanation is suitable for the holding of a wild animal. Keeping a wild animal as a pet, such as the Sun bear, is illegal. In 2017, this bear was renamed to “Bintang” when Albert Teo Chin Kion and Borneo Eco Tour Sdn Bhd, both passionate enthusiasts into changing a sun bear’s life, adopted Bintang. Another reason for changing the name to “Bintang” is because her chest mark appears as a sun-shape, sprinkled with light black dots. “Bintang” is a beautiful name which incorporates the Malaysian meaning of “star” to represent her unique chest pattern.  Bintang was just a five months old female sun bear cub and weighed 7.9kg when she arrived in BSBCC on July 15, 2014.  “Bintang” is a beautiful name which incorporates the Malaysian meaning of “star” to represent chest mark appears as a sun-shape, sprinkled with light black dots. Rescued at such a young age, Bintang spent little time of her cub life alongside her Mother; sun bear cub should remain with their Mother until two/three years old, when living in their natural habitat. The individuals who separated Bintang from her Mother, weakened her chances for survival as she was unable to learn valuable life skills from a young age. Therefore, BSBCC needs to take good care of her and teach her how to be a real bear again. She has been offered lots of fruits such as durian, mangosteen, tarap, rambutan and many more. Other than that, in order to encourage her natural bear behaviour, lots of enrichments are made and given to her. She shows her improvement day by day.           Sunbearo, Loki and Bintang are integrated in quarantine. She met her bear brother, Sunbearo and her bear sister, Loki within this time and all were getting along extremely well. They spend time playing fighting, suckling for comfort seeking, resting and sleeping together. Bintang’s suckling style is different to others; her paw will be placed on one of the friend, whilst suckling.   On 22 November 2015, Sunbearo, Loki and Bintang integrated with Montom and Susie2 and then Damai. On 24 December 2015, they were released to the forest enclosure. They were foraging together and found some bugs, ants and termites but they didn’t seem too interested in climbing. Loki was the first to climb. After being anxious on the first day, Bintang and Sunbearo both started to climb across the following few days, which made them fall in love with climbing. In 2016, the bears integrated with Kala, Mary, Boboi, Kitud, and Tan Tan, as well as Dodop and Wawa. There was no signs of aggression between them. Bintang is very friendly to all the bears, but Damai is her best bear friend ever! Bintang loves to spend time with her bear friend, to play fight, rest and just hang out together in the forest enclosure.    Bintang is very friendly to all the bears, but Damai is her best bear friend ever! Bintang is a very kind-natured and gentle sun bear. She does not mind being dirty an actually loves digging and tearing up the dead wood across the forest enclosure. She enjoys her nap time and snoozing on her favourite tree. Bintang is an excellent ground nest builder. She tries to grab as many big leaves from the trees and arranges it nicely on the ground. She will continue to build even if her friends try to interrupt her, with a lot of determination to have a nice comfy nest to rest on afterwards.         Bintang is an excellent ground nest builder. Bintang is showing excellent survival skills in the forest every day. We hope that soon she will be one of the next candidates for releasing back into the wild. She deserves to stay in the wild and be a WILD bear once again!   Video By Chiew Lin May What is the reasons that makes you smile..? The best thing what you can get is hanging out with best pals! Video By Chiew Lin May Day 36: Friendship Goals The best enrichment for the bear cub is another bear. Romolina and Logan spend more time learning how to be in a beautiful friendship, and to be happy, agile sun bears after all that they have been through in the past. Text by Seng Yen Wah Photos by Chiew Lin May & Seng Yen Wah  We are the two little bear cubs, Logan and Romolina Logan and Romolina are the bear cubs we have at BSBCC. Both of them are estimated at eight months old. Even though the same age, Romalina has permanent teeth and canines, whereas Logan still has his milk teeth and canines, with a curved shaped jaw. Logan has a bigger body size than Romalina, due to the gender difference. Both of these cubs have come to BSBCC with a different story. Logan is a male bear cub. He was found at Lokan River, Kulu-Kulu Village in Sabah. When he first arrived, Logan was small and skinny, with the owner claiming that Logan was abandoned during the crossing of a large river with his Mother, leaving his left front paw maggoty and hairless. As a result, his left front paw has developed abnormally. The owner surrendered him, after keeping him for roughly three months, to the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) on 19th of May 2018, who sent Logan to BSBCC on the same day. Romolina is a female bear cub. She was kept as a pet for roughly three months at Romol Village, Sapulut. The villager surrendered her after Bob Hartley and Virgil Joon Gunting negotiated with the villager. They sent her to the SWD who the transferred her to BSBCC on 7th of July 2018. As these bears are of such similar ages, we decided to brighten their day and integrate the bear cubs. Logan is a friendly bear. He is curious about the presence of other bears and wants to get close and initiate play fighting with his new friends. Romolina decided to make things difficult. Romolina is more attached with humans and this integration was the first time she became close to another bear. She started to defend herself by vocalizing and tries to give a warning to Logan, as she felt insecure. However, Logan is brave and playful, therefore tries his best to get to know about Romolina despite her insecurity.  First met up for Logan and Romolina!  Romolina shows alert with the presence of Logan. The day starts to get better. Romolina still uses her vocalisations, but only to warn Logan that she does not like his methods of play. However both bears show that they enjoy playing with each other through their soft biting and pawing. They spent more time playing in the hammock than on the ground. Time on the ground was spent chasing and running after each other within the enclosure, just like the characters from the cartoon “Tom and Jerry”. Both bears fill each other’s times with fun and excitement, showing they really enjoy being around each other.  They are playing on the circle platform.  Soft biting is one of the bear playing ways!  Time to play fight! Pacing has shown to be one of the stress-related behaviour. This stress-related behaviour may have been caused by the bear’s past life, especially if kept within small cages such as Romolina. When they are integrated, Logan will interrupt Romolina’s pacing which has helped to reduce her stress-related behaviours and time spent performing them. This has shown to be an alternative way and also the best way to help her! Logan and Romolina have been sharing food together but only when it is not Romolina’s favourite food, corn. Romolina wants all the corn to herself and will give Logan a warning if he tries to take her corn away. Other than that, sharing the food has been successful. Sometimes they fight but it will not affect their friendship. We really hope Logan and Romolina can grow up happily together, gain the courage and strength to return to the forest together!  We want to back to the forest together! Text by Seng Yen Wah Photos by Chiew Lin May & Seng Yen Wah  Cerah and Jelita are best bear friends. They always spend time together. They came to BSBCC from Lok Kawi Wildlife Zoo in June 2007. Since they are inseparable people are always confused, who is Cerah and who is Jelita?  Cerah is an 11 year old adult female bear. Cerah means bright in Malay. She was just 8 months old when she arrived. Cerah has a fierce face due to her wrinkles. But just because she looks aggressive doesn’t mean she is. She is intelligent, cool, and curious. She is very cautious about strangers and prefers to keep her distance. She is happy in nature, preferring to spend time in the trees than on the ground.  Jelita is a 12 year old adult female bear. Jelita means beautiful in Malay and she is really beautiful. People will fall in love with her lovely eyes. She is the dominant one in the friendship, Cerah will follow her around whilst they roam, forage and climb. Jelita has a beautiful chest mark which splits like a wishbone on her right side.  In 2010, Cerah and Jelita moved from old bear house (now quarantine) to bear house 1. In the same year, they were reintroduced to a forest enclosure named Pen D. Before they could be released back to the forest, they had to pass the fence training. Fence training is for the bears to know that if they get too close to the hot wire or they try to climb on the fence they could get zapped by the electric fence. This is used to prevent them escaping from the forest enclosure. In August 2015, Cerah and Jelita moved again from bear house 1 to bear house 2 and they were introduced to a new forest enclosure, Pen K. In order to encourage them going out from the bear den, their favourite foods such as banana, watermelon, honeydew, and of course HONEY will be scattered around the ramp and on the forest floor. Once the guillotine door opened, they get attracted by the delicious foods but they are hesitant about the new environment. So, they will try to stretch as much as their body out to the ramp and try to grab the fruits but still keeping their hind legs in the den so that they feel safer. After nearly a week, Cerah finally stepped out to the forest. And, Cerah was the first bear to step out in the forest.   Cerah and Jelita display their wild behaviour. They love spending time in the forest enclosure. Sometimes they like to stay in the forest overnight as well. They are excellent climbers and can always be found in a tree engaging in their favourite activities such as sunbathing and resting. After years of rehabilitation in BSBCC, they have learnt pertinent survival skills such as nest building. Both of them are outstanding at building nests using tree branches and leaves providing them a comfy resting place.               Sun bears are solitary animals in the wild. However, the limited space in BSBCC is one of the biggest challenges that we have ever met. Therefore, we integrate the bears. Integration is part of the rehabilitation processes. Other than to solve the problem of limited space, integration can let the bear learn survival skills from each other. Cerah and Jelita are one of the examples that show the advantage of integration. They depend on each other. If they were having a fight with other bears, they will back each other up and chase the bears away. Their inseparability is the signature of them. They love to stay with each other.    Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May  Diana was kept in a concrete floor cage and was displayed to the public at View Top Resort, Tawau, on the South East coast of Sabah, for about ten years. She was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department on the 31st of July 2013, and was then brought to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) on the 10th of March, 2014. Upon arrival, she was in a bad condition with existing open wounds on the right maxillary area and had unhealthy gums due to fighting with another male, adult sun bear as they were both kept together in a cage. We will never know what happened to her mother, but this can illustrate how vulnerable wild sun bears are to threats from poachers. Stolen from life in the forest, Diana will never be taught by her mother how to survive in the wild. This year we still continue to fight the battle to rescue illegal pet trade victims in Sabah. Due to the dens in our bear houses and quarantine being full, our team has decided to let Diana meet with two lovely young female bears, Sika and Kina, in quarantine.  They were moved to larger dens to begin integration. On the 13th of April 2018, it was time for Diana to make these new friendships.  Once the door was opened, gorgeous Sika showed more interest towards Diana by pawing and wrestling her in a gentle way.  Kina slowly came to meet Diana and joined in the play fight too – with lots and lots of happy play fighting!  Diana was excited at her first encounter with Sika and Kina.  Diana was excited at her first encounter with Sika and Kina.  Diana is like a grandma to them!  Diana is like a grandma to them!  They seem to get along well, except when there are coconut treats. Kina and Diana do not mess with Sika.  They immediately enjoyed their new dens which were full of natural habitat enrichments such as dead wood, green leaves, climbing structures, a sleeping platform, and a hammock. These enrichment activities are all designed to stimulate natural behaviour and keep them active.  They are happily busy finding treats hidden here and there.  For Diana, though not much of a foodie, she enjoys eating fruit.  Once their tummy is full, it must be time to play!  They spend their days wandering around their large dens, tearing open hessian sacks, digging up termites, rolling, and climbing on the structural enrichment.  They spend their days wandering around their large dens, tearing open hessian sacks, digging up termites, rolling, and climbing on the structural enrichment.  They spend their days wandering around their large dens, tearing open hessian sacks, digging up termites, rolling, and climbing on the structural enrichment.  They spend their days wandering around their large dens, tearing open hessian sacks, digging up termites, rolling, and climbing on the structural enrichment.  They spend their days wandering around their large dens, tearing open hessian sacks, digging up termites, rolling, and climbing on the structural enrichment.  Diana still cannot figure out how Sika and Kina get up to the sleeping platform, but she will just sit and look around the outside where she enjoys the smell of freedom.  Sometimes the three bears will just explore in their own world of fun and mischief.  Sika and Kina are particularly fond of destroying enrichment toys first.  Sika and Kina are particularly fond of destroying enrichment toys first.  They would have learnt the forest skills they need to survive in the wild.  They would have learnt the forest skills they need to survive in the wild. They all have their own spot for napping.  Diana will choose the basket  Sika’s is in the hammock  Kina takes naps on random platform  They are having a great time together  They are learning how to trust and to ensure they have all that they deserve!  It is a pleasure to see that Diana has grown close to the fun-loving youngsters, Sika and Kina. Our sun bears are rescued and undergo rehabilitation at our centre. They have suffered some physical disabilities or psychological trauma from their time kept in captivity. Through this integration, life is getting better for these bears that have lived with pain and trauma for so long. For Diana, single enrichment and the company of new friends can make her day. |
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