Early Life
Wong Siew Te was born in Bukit Mertajam, Penang on 16 May 1969 as the youngest son of the tailor Wong Soon Kew, who operated the business "Soon Kew Tailor" in Bukit Mertajam from the 1950s to the mid-1980s, and his wife, Put Tai. He grew up with eight other siblings – four elder brothers and four elder sisters.(REPHRASING NEEDED)
Education
From 1976 to 1982 he joined Kim Sen Primary School in Bukit Mertajam and from 1982 to 1987 the Jit Sin High School, also in Bukit Mertajam.(REPHRASING NEEDED)
Kim Sen Primary School, Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
Jit Sin High School, Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
Wong and a collared Formosan Reeve Muntjac Deer in Taiwan.
He continued his studies 1989 at Taiwan's National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and received his diploma in Animal Science & Veterinary in 1992. After graduated the animal husbandry and vet program, Prof. Kurtis Pei, a wildlife professor at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, recruited me as his research assistant. It was then I started my career as a field biologist/research assistant doing wildlife survey, camera trapping, radio collaring and tracking large mammals, taking care of endangered species at Pei’s wildlife rescue centre, and all of goofy stuff people seen in Discovery Channel. (REPHRASING NEEDED)
Universiti of Montana, USA.
Path to BSBCC
Recognitions and Award
A Journey To Sun Bear Hero
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
In 2002, I started my doctorate program at the same university. In view of there were so much unknown about sun bears, I decided the effects of logging on sun bears at the same study area where I did my MSc study in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo. Because of the conservation achievement from the project, I was appointed to co-chair the Sun Bear Expert Team for the IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist Group, from 2002-2005. (REPHRASING NEEDED) In 1994, Wong went to University of Montana to pursue his dream: a bachelor degree in Wildlife Biology. In the same year, he also met his then future academic advisor, Dr. Christopher Servheen who was lloking for a Malaysian to study the ecology of sun bears. The study began in 1998 in a rainforest of Malaysian Borneo as a project for Master of Science (M.Sc) thesis, which later published as The ecology of Malayan sun bear in the lowland tropical rainforest of Sabah, Borneo. The study revealed the enigmatic and elusive life of the little known bear and lots of their ecological aspects. In 2002, Wong started his doctorate programme at the same university
Wong at Montana
Universiti of Montana, USA.
Wong at Montana