Text by Jocelyn Stokes
Photos by BSBCC Staffs

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!*

*The bear crew worked late into the night moving the bears*

*Some of the bears were move aggressive during the move*

*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!

Five New Bears in One Night

Jumpa Lagi Borneo!!