International Sun Bear Day 2025

The 9th celebration of the International Sun Bear Day took place on the 16th May 2025 at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), in Sepilok, Sandakan. With this year’s theme “Conservation Education: Bridging People and Wildlife”, the Centre hopes conservation education will bring people closer to nature, thus appreciating the importance of wildlife in maintaining the health of our ecosystem.

Some 50 students and teachers from local schools SJK (C) Ming Chung, SJK (C) Yuk Choi, SK Sung Siew, SK Muhibbah and SMK Elopura were present at the BSBCC to join the celebration. Activities in store for these students include interactive guided tours and a sun bear enrichment making activity which exposed the importance of animal welfare to participants. Prior to the actual celebration day, online contests were announced including quizzes, doodle art contest and drawing contests which were opened for local and international audiences to participate. Visitors to the BSBCC also get to enjoy a Pre – International Sun Bear Day celebration on the 3rd-4th May 2025, with booths from the BSBCC themselves, Sepilok Junior Rangers and Kolej Vokasional Sandakan that offered interactive activities for all ages.

Sun bears, the smallest among the 8 living bear species in the world is listed as one of the Totally Protected species in Sabah under the state’s Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.

The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is currently home to 41 sun bears, mainly rescued from house pets across Sabah. The Centre provides a second chance for these bears to return to the wild through a rehabilitation programme, apart from providing an improved long-term living environment for bears that cannot be released. BSBCC by far has received 70 sun bears rescued by the Sabah Wildlife Department and 13 individuals has been reintroduced back into the wild including a 5-year-old female sun bear released in March this year.