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Text by Seng Yen Wah Photos & Captions by Chiew Lin May Logan, a four month old male sun bear cub, arrived at BSBCC on 19th of May 2018. He was the first bear rescued in 2018, the 57th overall for BSBCC. Logan was found at Lokan River, Kulu-Kulu Village, Sandakan, Sabah. The owner reported that he had seen a mother bear and a bear cub in an estate. One day, the mother bear was crossed a river leaving the cub behind. The owner realized that the front left paw of the bear cub was injured. The injured paw was covered in maggots and hairless. The owner then took the bear cub and kept him. The bear cub was young, tiny and skinny. He was held in a small metal cage around three months and fed with milk and porridge mixed with chicken. The owner surrendered him to the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and sent to BSBCC on the same day. Upon arrival he was named Logan.  Our first glimpse of the new arrival young orphan, Logan from Sg. Lokan, Kulu-Kulu Village, Sandakan, Sabah.  Logan kept in a small metal cage and fed with milk and porridge mixed with chicken meat and skin However, only Logan knows his past and we believe something terrible has happened to him. This is because on arrival we found Logan’s front left paw has developed abnormally and is missing the thumb. Logan was originally called Bibi by his owner. But he was renamed to Logan which is the name after the place he was found and also after the character from ‘X-Men’. We hope that Logan the bear will grow to be like Logan in the movie who is strong and brave when facing the challenges in his life.  Logan shows sign of abnormal claws development, an absence of left thumb and dehydrated  Unloading Logan from the truck and placed him at quarantine BSBCC, where he will nurse back to health  Logan will begin to recover from a lifetime of suffering  He is settling in well at quarantine After he was settled in quarantine for three days, Dr. Nabila Sarkawi, the veterinarian from SWD, performed a general medical check with BSBCC team. He weighs 9.15kg. During the health check, general measurement and X-ray are performed and the X-ray showed his left paw is malformed and loss first phalange thumb. But then, he is a sensitive, yet active and playful bear. Logan has a long road ahead of him but we will never give up on him and we hope that you will support us as best you can!  Dr. Nabila Sarkawi, the veterinarian from SWD, performed a general medical check with BSBCC team.  Little Logan need more rest to recover  We will keep a close eye on his paw and he will receive medication, love and care.  Exploring the enrichment  Logan loves the new dens particularly fond of resting on the bear platform Logan will go through quarantine and receive round the clock care from the BSBCC bear care unit. Thankfully, Logan is having a second chance at life. With time, love and proper care, we hope he will become a strong and brave bear. We will keep you updated on his progress. Please spread the message to Save the Sun Bear!  Logan will surely finally learn the delights of bear life  Logan will surely finally learn the delights of bear life  Even with an abnormal claws development, Logan never gives up on his climbing skills.  Hope Logan will grow into a strong bear, slowly gain trust and live a healthy life free of pain
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Text and Photos by Seng Yen Wah Nano is a two years old sub-adult male bear. He was sent to the BSBCC on the 20th of November, 2016. A lady decided to rescue Nano when she saw Nano was kept in a small chicken mesh cage in Kota Marudu, north of Sabah. She purchased him from the seller for a price of RM1,500, with the purpose of saving his life. Nano was surrendered to the Sabah Wildlife Department and sent to the BSBCC after that. He showed aggressive, alert and stressed behaviour when he first arrived. Besides that, he was found underweight, just weighing 9.7 kg. He paced a lot especially when he got stressed. This was due to psychological trauma that he had suffered and it caused stereotypical behavior. Actually, Nano is a very shy and quiet bear. He enjoys staying to himself. If somebody tries to disturb him, he would give a warning and barks or growls. He likes to rest on a towel. He feels safer staying alone and preferably in dark. Nano just finished his quarantine. But, he is still taking his time adapting. Now, he weighs 11kg. His favourite foods are banana and egg! We did not know what exactly happened to him for the past two years. But, we believed he was kept as a house pet before. People might think sun bears are cute when they are still a cub. So, people insist on keeping them as a pet. But they never think about the consequences resulting from keeping them in a small cage or feeding them with the wrong diet. The mistreatment of the owner will not only cause sun bears having some relevant health problem like dehydration, and malnutrition but also the psychological trauma can cause stress-related behaviour. The trauma implies their future life. So, Please stop doing that for sun bears! Nano has suffered a lot. The best enrichment for a bear is another bear. So, we plan to find Nano a friend for accompanying him. The integration of Nano with others can help him to learn more survival skills from his new friends along with helping him to reduce his stress as well. We hope Nano can leave his traumatic early life behind and be happy and gain his confidence at the BSBCC.
Text by Jocelyn Stokes Photos by BSBCC Staffs  The truck full of sun bear arrives Late Monday night, the BSBCC staff waited patiently in the moonlight as a large truck full of bears slowly pulled into the conservation centre’s docking area. It was 10pm on the 10th of March, when five rescued sun bears arrived at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre from Lok Kawi Zoo, Kota Kinabalu. The BSBCC is grateful to receive the assistance of the Wildlife Rescue Unit from Sabah Wildlife Department in their efforts to bring these bears to their new home  Preparing to unload the first new bear  First glimpse of the bear cub, Sunbearo  Wong gives directions for uploading the first bear into the quarantine area.  The bear cub steps out of the small cage and into his new home  Relocating the bears took a lot of muscle power!  Moving the bears into the bear house  The bear crew worked late into the night moving the bears  Some of the bears were move aggressive during the move  Moving bears can be quite tricky!  Thye Lim feeds the bears honey to help reduce stress. Sun Bears ALWAYS love honey! As the bears barked and rattled their cages, the staff managed to safely unload and transfer the four adult bears and one cub into the centre’s new rehabilitation facilities, all within the course of only 3 hours! Only one bear required sedation for the transfer, which occurred the following day in addition to a health check, revealing that this big, blue-eyed male is in good physical condition.  Ronney, a male adult bear need to sedated for transfer into new home. He has a beautiful blue eyes.  Health checks were carried out before Ronney was placed into new cages.  While observing the freshly-relocated baby sun bear explore its new home, Wong Siew Te, CEO & Founder of the BSBCC, announced that this beautiful young male will be named 'Sunbearo' in recognition of all the enabling support that the company Neways has given to the centre. “Without the generous support of companies like Neways, these bears could not have been given a home here,” Wong said with deep appreciation.  Wong and Sunbearo's first feeding. Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre mission is to conserve sun bear through improving animal welfare, raising conservation awareness with education, conducting research, and rehabilitating the sun bear cubs like Sunbearo who have the second chance to return his life in the forest!  Sunbearo explores his new home and practices climbing. In Sabah it is completely illegal to hunt or keep sun bears captive because the Bornean sun bear is a Class I protected species. Although it is illegal to keep sun bears, it is sadly not uncommon and wild sun bear populations continue to be at risk. Sigalung, Phin, Diana, Ronney and Sunbearo are the names of our well-received new bears. They are all victims of this crime. The BSBCC is grateful for the opportunity to assist them in their plight, however it is necessary to remember why they need our help. In the midst of all the inherent excitement of receiving 5 new bears, a surprise guest visited the centre as well. Sir David Attenborough, famed naturalist and narrator, was graciously welcomed to the BSBCC with a personal tour from Wong as they observed and discussed the sun bears together. Although the bears being observed in the forest enclosure may not have been especially aware of his presence, Wong the BSBCC staff, were quite pleased to welcome such an honorary guest.  Wonderful! Sir David Attenborough visit our centre and Wong explain about sun bear and BSBCC stories.   There! Sun bear is by far the most arboreal bear in the world!  Wong and Sir David Attenborough shared experiences on sun bears.  Explaining the importance of sun bears in the forest ecosystem.  A little gift to Sir David- a sun bear photo! More news on the progress of our new arrivals will be coming soon, so stay connected as we embrace our new count of 32 sun bears!
Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May  She belongs in the forest, not in a cage or as a pet.  She looked at you all as if to say, 'please help me !! ' Damai was famous with "Mystery of the sun bear at car porch ". Damai was ended up at a car porch of a housing area in Damai, Kota Kinabalu and until now she is likely to remain a mystery. Damai has been sent to Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre ( BSBCC) on last year November 5th. We named this female sun bear cub “Damai”, after the place where she was found. Damai means “peace” in Malay. Now she is 11 months old with her weight is 19.3kg.  " I share this earth with you. "  Sun bears need diverse and healthy rainforest to survive.  Nobody knows how many sun bears remain in the wild. Sun bear is classified as "Vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List.  Please DO NOT poaching for bear parts and capture of sun bear as pet !! While we are unsure of the exact details of Damai past, we know for certain sun bear cubs were illegally kept as pets. As is the case with so many orphaned sun bear at our Center, their mothers were most likely killed by poachers as the rainforests around them were cut and cleared for palm oil or other agriculture. This is really sad our rainforest lost every year. The only habitat on Earth where sun bears, orangutans, clouded leopards and elephants all are roam together!! Please help save sun bears and their rainforest home. Together we make the difference !!  Please always help us spread the words for sun bears !! 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. 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. 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.  In the morning of January 19, the staff from the Wildlife Department sent in a new bear to Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. Her name is Kuamut. She is a sub adult female sun bear captured in Kuamut area, a village near to Kinabatangan River in Sabah. Kuamut is another unfortunate sun bear that share similar story with other caged bears. She was kept as a pet as a small cub, with her mother probably being killed by poachers. When her size was getting bigger, stronger and more dangerous, the owner decided not to keep her any longer. The owner released her back to the forest (luckily not slaughter her for her body parts) but she kept coming back to the village because she was habituated to people and associated human with food. At the end, the villagers contacted the wildlife department, who confiscated the bear and sent her to our centre.
ew Straits Times
Text by Evangeline Majawat & Julia Chan 3rd November 2015 "THEY are so cute." These words usually set off alarm bells for wildlife biologist Wong Siew Te. He believes that the greatest enemy of his beloved Malayan sun bear are humans. He has lost count of the number of times these animals were hunted and kept just because people found them "cute"." It's very easy to like these animals, and yes, they're cute, especially the cubs. The problem starts when people think they can keep them as pets. These are wild animals. They're not meant to be held in captivity." Captive bears are treated inhumanely and kept in disgraceful conditions. He added that captive bears also suffered from severe malnutrition due to an unbalanced and unhealthy diet. Cubs suffer the most as they are fed a constant diet of condensed milk. Life in hell for cute sun bear cubs
Because they are small and cute, sun bear owner often keep them in a small pet cage for puppies or birds. This is the beginning of life in hell.
I once saw a bear cub in a crocodile farm in Sarawak. From a distant he looked like a puppy because she was place next to a puppy. But from my distance, she did not look like a puppy because she paced none stopped. Puppy rarely paced, but sun bear pace all the time in captivity. Her condition was a typical bear cub in captivity: malnutrition with very pale color coat, weak, dehydration, stress, and extremely nervous. I immediately put my finger into her month to let her suckle.
Sun bear cubs are sold as pets!
Sorry for the long silent. Life in the field is surly hectic with challenges but too few people to help up.
To get the momentum of this blog start again, I reposting a series of stories about captive sun bears from my original blog ==================================================== 
Its all started here: sun bear cubs are cute, they are so cute and adorable, way from any body’s imagination. If you think puppies are cute or kittens are cute or baby orangutans are cute or human babies are cute, think again after you see a sun bear cub!
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