Part II: Story of the sun bear keeper

Text by Ng Wai Pak 

Sun bears do take naps!

Today, I was carrying out my duties at the centre. After the sun bears had their morning meal, I observe and record the bears’ activities. Sun bear are very active animal. They are curious, energetic and always have thing to do to keep them busy.  After two hours of record, I found out the centre is become quiet except the sound come from the stand fan to keep the floor dry. I noticed most of the bears are lying on their own basket bed, and having their afternoon nap. Yes, the bears do take afternoon nap. No matter they are born in the wild or keep in the cage, they do have this natural behavior.

Lets look at the diagram below which I taken from Wong’s research data back in Danum Valley. It shows that the wild sun bears do have their short nap around 10 am in the day time (the little dip at around 10 am) after two hours of feeding peak at round 8 am in the morning. So, we are glad that our sun bears in our centre do keep their natural behaviors.

Of course, not every bears is going to sleep at the same time every day. There are some bears still want to hang around foraging at the ground, sniffing around, playing on dry branches, and disturbing others who want to rest!  ​

I recall back the time when I was a volunteer in my friend’s kindergarten several years ago. The bears are just like the kids; they won’t stop for any seconds, and the only time you can found silence is when they are having nap. That is the  most peaceful moment of the day. No more yelling, no fighting, no crying… nothing. I would say there are a lot of similarity between taking care of the bears and helping out in the kindergarten. For sure, I am glad to see them sleeping peacefully, both the kids and the bears.  ​

Part I: Story of the sun bear keeper

Text by Ng Wai Pak

​It seems that the blog was silent for some times. Thus, I was told to write some bears’ stories in Sepilok while Wong is away for a while at the moment. Of course I am more than willing to share my experiences that I learnt from the bears with our dearest readers. Before I go any further, I think I should give a brief self-introduction to every one who read this blog. I am Wai Pak, from Perak, one of the states that located in West Malaysia. I have been followed Mr. Wong for one and a half year, worked as a field assistant under his Bornean Sun Bear and Bearded Pig Research and Conservation Project in Danum Valley Field Centre, Sabah. 

In the end of April this year, I followed Wong to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre where there are some bears keep in enclosures, (and also the place where BSBCC going to be set up). To be honest, for someone who does not taking care of any pets before, and now have to deal with sun bears, which are big carnivore with long sharp claws and canines, no doubt is a real big challenge for me! However, as I promised to Wong, I am willing to learn from the beginning. So, I will not give up easily without trying my best. ​

Thanks to the staffs in Sepilok, Mr. Elis and Mr. Rosley. With their patient and guidance, I managed to overcome my tedious period and now I am getting used to the daily chores in the existing bear house. Cleaning feces and making sure the cleanliness of the enclosures is one of the most important duties (although it is a shitty, sweaty and tiring job, I should admit). Each time I finished the cleaning, I feel so great as I know the bears can have a cleaner place to hang around.  Preparing bear food is another interesting part in the bear house. Besides the essential food sources such as rice porridge and dog food, it is all depend on our creativity to prepare a delicious and balance meal for the bears. Hmm, I think this is a very big topic to share with you, so I decided to talk about it in the future.

I am glad that I am lucky enough to be given the chance to work with the sun bears. This is something that I have never worked before and it is absolutely a meaningful thing that had enriched my life. After three months living together with the bears, I have had built up a closer relation to every sun bears in Sepilok. We do have communications. They do not bark at me anymore compare to the first week I reached. I know we had build up trust to each other. Since this is my first post in this blog, I hope you enjoy reading and please kindly leave your comments or suggestions here. If you want to know more about the stories between our lovely bears and me, please wait for my next post:  Story of the sun bear keeper part II.  ​