Students from the Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Tun Fuad Stephen in Sandakan visited BSBCC on the 16th February 2016. BSBCC’s education team brought the 88 students that came around the visiting area for an interpretative walk to observe the sun bears while learning about the sun bears’ ecology and threats.

The guided tour was created for the benefit of allowing students to contribute some of their time and resources, be it expertise or experience for the betterment of a charismatic species that is found endemic to Borneo, that is the Bornean sun bear. They will be able to share the sun bear information to the public and to promote and encourage public to involve in wildlife conservation.

To create a generation that is more environmentally aware, students should be given information on the importance of preserving and conserving the environment. We were very happy to have the chance to share our knowledge and experience of working with sun bears to the students. All of the students enjoyed their time learning about the environment and wildlife species from the talk, and tour around the Centre. We hope that they can gain more knowledge on of protecting the environment and our precious wildlife species.

OUTREACH PROGRAMMES- SK. BANDAR SANDAKAN

The first school BSBCC’s education team visited this year was SK Bandar Sandakan. The primary school located 5 minutes away from Sandakan town comprised of 610 students. The school was more than happy to have all their students involved in the programme which started at 7.30 am after the school’s weekly assembly. BSBCC was fortunate to have the support from other Sabah-based organizations; HUTAN-KOCP, Sabah Wildlife Department and Sandakan Borneo Bird Club.

The programme aims to raise awareness among students about the importance of protecting wildlife, their habitat and the environment as a whole. The programme started with a brief introduction by BSBCC and introduction of each organizations that were present. This was followed by a talk on the protection of wild animals by Mr. Aznandy from Sabah Wildlife Department. The kids were excited to learn about the diversity of our wildlife. They were amazed of the existence of many species endemic to the Bornean island.

*Talk on Protected Wildlife Species in Sabah by Mr. Aznandy from, Sabah Wildlife Department Officer*

The Sandakan Borneo Bird Club conducted an interactive activity where students were told to mimic the song of birds found in Borneo. The best bird call mimic won a prize. Encik Haslan from HUTAN–KOCP was next to present a brief talk about orangutans and efforts done to conserve them. Being the slowest reproducing mammal in the world, they are highly prone to extinction.

Last but not least, Miss Gloria from BSBCC introduced the sun bears to the kids. Our sun bear mascot, Sunny was also present to help the kids understand better about the physical characters of a sun bear.

As Sunny appeared on stage, the students got excited and were eager to learn more about the sun bears. BSBCC team together with the supporting organizations set up display booths at the school. This helped to share our stories about wildlife even better, especially for the students to understand more about the importance to conserve them.

Special thanks to the support from the Sandakan Education Department and the SK Bandar teachers who were glad to work together with us to raise awareness in
environmental conservation among these students.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES (JAN-FEB 2016)

A hint of the life that she should be living!