Getting creative for sun bear conservation
It all begins with an idea.
The Star Online, 28th February 2017
by Nadiah Khairil Anwar
BSBCC CORNER- Discovery channel Southest Asia
It all begins with an idea.
(Public screening of the Frontier Borneo)
On the 24th February 2017, Dr. Wong Siew Te – Founder of Bornean Sun Bear
Conservation Centre (BSBCC), was invited to join the first public screening and launching of the Frontier Borneo in Sunway Pyramid, Selangor, Malaysia.
After a few months exploring the jungles of Borneo, the 10-part natural history series narrated by Luke Evans was finally launched. The series was then digitally screened across Discovery Channel in Asia Pacific.
Q&A session with Dr. Wong Siew Te.
Malaysian artist Suzi Chua's masterpiece of "Debbie" was also displayed at the venue. The magnificent piece was a 5ft x 5ft acrylic on canvas art.
The stories of sun bears and BSBCC was featured in the series. Dr. Wong being one of the important person featured in the film had a Q & A session with the public during the launching. We would like to thank Discovery Channel for this opportunity to help us spread the words about our work.
Dr. Wong answering questions from the public after the screening.
Educational Activities - Outreach Programme (Jan-Feb)
It all begins with an idea.
Ms. Gloria, Environmental Education Executive explaining about the anatomy of a sun bear to the students.
Our outreach programme for the year 2017 kicked off in February where the team started to visit schools in the Sandakan District. We visited our first school, SK Seri Manis on the 13th February and continued to visit four more schools the following 4 days (See Table 1). More than 2,700 students and teachers were involved during the outreach programme week, learning about sun bears, orangutans, birds and protection status of wildlife in Sabah.
We invited our partners from Hutan-Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme, Borneo Bird Club and Sabah Wildlife Department to join us in conducting various environmental education activities for the students. The activities held include colouring competition, talks and video show to promote awareness and appreciation to the wildlife of Sabah.
Our volunteer, Charina explaining to students about sun bears enrichment.
The students are excited and enjoyed participating in the activities. We were glad that these students had the opportunities to learn about wildlife conservation in Sabah and many were really keen to know more about mother nature.
Huge thanks to the support from the Sandakan Education Department, school principals, teachers as well as all students for participating in our activities.
Group photo with students and teachers from SMK Elopura II.
Table 1: List of schools visited in February 2017.
Taking photo with student at SMK Elopura II, Sandakan.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES - Group visit (February)
It all begins with an idea.
BSBCC continued to receive school groups throughout the year. This year, our first school group was SMK Tun Aminah, Johor, West Malaysia. The group visited the Centre on the 10th February. Before visiting the bears in the forest enclosure, the students were first given a short introduction about sun bears and BSBCC.
Sharon BSBCC’s Centre Coordinator giving a presentation about sun bears and BSBCC to students from SMK Tun Aminah.
The students and teachers then visited the observation platform to see the sun bears roaming in the forest enclosure. Environmental education will continue to be held to promote awareness especially among the younger generation.
Students observing the bears from the observation platform.
Visit - ETH Zurich Field Course
Today, 8th February 2017 we are glad to welcome a visit from a group of students from the Tropical Ecology Field Course ETH Zurich. Our Environmental Education Executive delivered a brief presentation about sun bears and BSBCC to the students, and later brought them for a tour around the observation platforms to watch the bears in the forest enclosure. At the end of the visit, our education team also had a short discussion with the students about sun bears and BSBCC's works and operations. We hope that the students have learned more about sun bears today and help us spread the words to save sun bears!
