Text by Gloria Ganang and photos by Tee Thye Lim

It has been 4 days since Ah Bui arrived at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). She is one fortunate female bear to be rescued by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) just on time. She was almost sold for the purpose of bear bile. Ah Bui is approximately 2 years old.

We conducted Ah Bui’s physical check up at the BSBCC today. It went on very smoothly with the help from staffs of the SWD and Orangutan Appeal UK vet, Dr. Cinzia Cordella. It took us around 35 minutes to complete the procedures.

Ah Bui was treated with honey before anesthetized for the check up procedure.

Ah Bui has obvious large canine teeth which are due to her previous diet. She used to be fed with chicken before she arrived here.  Her current weight is 25 kg which is perfect for a female bear her age. Her pulse and temperature readings are normal.

Dr. Cinzia taking pulse rate of Ah Bui.

Placing Ah Bui back to her temporary cage

Ah Bui seems to have adapted to a small confined cage indicated through her constant “bending over” behavior when she first arrived at BSBCC.  She has gradually adapted to the current cage which has more space for her to move around. Ah Bui however have to go through a quarantine period for a month before she will mix with other sun bears. She will eventually have a better social life, get access to the forest enclosure and be a wild sun bear again!

Text by Tee Thye Lim

“Friend” is the people who play an important role in our human daily life. They may be able to be our supporter, person who assists you, giving you a positive effect and sharing most of their life experience with you.

Same as what have happened at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) on 4th May 2012 evening, we received a sun bear from Penampang, named Ah Bui, which means “friend” in local Murut language.

Ah Bui, the latest rescued sun bear at BSBCC

Ah Bui is a female sub-adult sun bear about two year old. She was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department’s (SWD) Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU) on May 2nd in a housing area at Penampang near Kota Kinabalu. The owner claimed that the bear was obtained from Sook at Keningau area.

Ah Bui arrived at our centre on the evening of May 4th.

Staffs from BSBCC and Sabah Wildlife Department moved Ah Bui to her new environment!

He is believed to look for a potential buyer of the bear as local market for bear parts still exist. Luckily the SWD’s officer managed to discover and rescued Ah Bui before she end up in cooking pot or as traditional medicine.

Ah Bui means "friend" in local Murut language

Ah Bui is still trying to settle down and adapt slowly to our center environment.
We hope she will get use her new home and make some new “Ah Bui” as well.

So, would you like to be Ah Bui’s Ah Bui?

Handing over official documents from Sabah Wildlife Department to BSBCC

Join us at
http://www.causes.com/causes/95651-bornean-sun-bear-conservation-centre for getting update with our bears at BSBCC!

Text by Gloria Ganang and photo by Tee Thye Lim

Students from the School of International Tropical Forestry (SITF) of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)  visited the BSBCC yesterday (5^th May 2012). UMS campus is based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The group comprise of 42 undergraduate students and accompanied by 2 lecturers. It was the first time that the BSBCC had a visit from the local university.

The visit began with an introduction about the centre by our CEO, Mr. Wong Siew Te and followed by a tour around the forest enclosure for a closer look at the bears.

Wong introducing the centre to the students

They were also given a brief talk about the characteristics, behavior and threats of sun bears by our Project Manager, Wai Pak. We also explained to the students about the history and operation of the centre. There were a lot of concerns from the students about the rehabilitation of sun bears. Since the SITF students were on their Zoology and Wildlife Management subject field trip, it was a great opportunity for us to promote awareness about the vulnerability of sun bears specifically in Borneo.

Wai Pak sharing information on the centre and sun bears.

Most of the students have never seen a sun bear before. They were fascinated even after a glimpse of the sun bears foraging in the enclosure. Since our platform was still in the process of completion, the students had a closer view of the sun bears from the feeding platform. They also get to observe a breathtaking behavior of Keningau, a female adult bear climbing a tree in the enclosure.

Students observing sun bears from the feeding platform

Their visit was such an inspiration for us to reach out to the local institutes. We hope that their visitation to our centre would help them gain more knowledge and spread the message of the needs to protect and conserve the sun bears in our region. The BSBCC will be honored to welcome more visitors from the local institutions in the future.

UMS students with Wong and BSBCC staffs

Text and photo by Gloria Ganang

BSBCC is honored to welcome our new full time staffs, Dawn Serene Tukalan and Tee Thye Lim as our Centre Coordinators. Both of them reported duty on the 1^st May 2012.

Dawn is a graduate of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) from Penampang town, Sabah. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science in 2009 and did a research on the usage of compost among local farmers. She previously worked as an Environmental Safety and Health Executive.

Dawn Serene Tukulan

Thye Lim is originally from Pahang, west Malaysia. He graduated from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) in 2010 with a degree in Conservation and Management of Biodiversity. He was a snorkeling guide in Lang Tengah Island, Terengganu before working in the conservation field with WWF- Malaysia as a Field Research Assistant for the Hawksbill Turtle conservation project in Malacca.

Tee Thye Lim

We are very fortunate to have these passionate and dedicated individuals in our team. BSBCC  is now equipped with staffs from various background and experiences. Therefore, we now have a stronger team for the growth and success of the centre.

Read more: In the dark over sun bears – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/in-the-dark-over-sun-bears-1.79034#ixzz1tXnQwemG

CONSERVATION CENTRE: Lack of awareness and data on species hampering efforts

A sun bear at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park near Kota Kinabalu. Pic by Malai Romah Tuah

Read more: In the dark over sun bears – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/in-the-dark-over-sun-bears-1.79034#ixzz1tXnKWHMu

KOTA KINABALU: IT has been more than three years but not many know about the existence of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Sandakan.

The facility located near the existing Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre (SOURC) is an effort to provide care, rehabilitation and eventual release of orphaned and captive sun bears.

With on-going work to develop the 2.5ha park continuing, the facility hopes to address the lack of knowledge and awareness about this little-known species, said chief executive officer Wong Siew Te.

Wong, 43, who had conducted research on the species of bear at Danum Valley (Lahad Datu) for six years, said despite the knowledge that the bear population in the peninsula and Sabah was declining, there was no data on the exact number of the sun bears remaining in the wild.

According to the website dedicated to the centre at http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org, the Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) found only in south-east Asia, is the world’s smallest bear species.

The Bornean sun bear (Helarctos malayanus euryspilus) is known to be the only sub-species of sun bear, and is distinctly smaller.

“While they are facing extinction due to habitat destruction following deforestation and humans taking their cubs as pets, there is also the issue of lack of exposure and very little study done on these bears.

“There is also the threat of bear-poaching for commercial exploitation. The fact that sun bears have a slow reproductive life — a female bear which can produce five cubs in her lifetime would be considered very productive — also contributes towards its low population density,” he added.

There are currently 25 bears at the centre, all seized by the Wildlife Department from people who kept them as pets.

As for funding, he said the centre had received RM5 million. He said RM2 million came from the government and the rest from the private sector

Read more: In the dark over sun bears – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/in-the-dark-over-sun-bears-1.79034#ixzz1tXn7uDSm

Text and Photos by Siew Te Wong

The 2nd day of the Sun Bear Rock Fund and awareness raising event has moved to University Malayan, the oldest and prestigious university in Malaysia on Sunday April 22nd. The event is part of the Universiti Malaya’s Earth Week in conjunction with the Earth Day 2012 and was co-organized by UM-Cares, SPAS, MNS, BSBCC, EcoKnights, Rockin’4 the Environment, and SGM.

The events started at 10 am with a series of talks on recycling and sustainable lifestyle. The next highlight of the day was the screening of the latest green film “One day on Earth”. After that I gave a talk on “Sun Bears, the forgotten bears”. After my talk the audience was entertain with the Sun Bear Rock musical events where several bands were performing.

EcoKnights Yasmin Rasyid introducing "One day on Earth"

Kenny Peavy introduced the Sun Bear Rock and my talk on the sun bearsI am trying my best to tell the audience who special the sun bears are. They are simply amazing bears!

I am trying my best to tell the audience who special the sun bears are. They are simply amazing bears!

Special thanks to Yasmin Rasyid, the founder of Ecoknights, all other organizers, and volunteers to make this event possible. I am also grateful to the audience who attended the event and make donation to Sun Bear Rock!

Text and photos by Siew Te Wong

Rockin’4 the Environment festival brings together musicians to perform in order to raise awareness and funds for the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and also the Environmental Education Alliance of SEA.

The weeklong festival was kicked start on last Saturday April 21st at Central Market down town Kuala Lumpur. Four groups of musicians, The Impatient Sisters, Rafique Rashid, Rustic Rose, and Ten Thousand Talents were performing their beautiful voices and rock music at the main stage of the Central Market. The event started at noon and ended at 3:30pm.

Thank you all for your performances and thank you all for showing up and support the SUN BEAR ROCK!

Wong gives a speech on sun bears and BSBCC and thanks the organizer and performers!

 

Rafique Rashid wins the heart of the audience with his song "Bear Necessities"

 

The young Rustic Rose surely rock the car park of Central Market with their rock songs!

The Ten Thousand Talents' rock songs wraps up the event of the day!

 

Please click the following link and listen to Wong and Kenny talk about Rocking for Sun Bear!

http://www.bfm.my/sun-bear-conservation-rockin-environment.html

Sun Bear Conservation & the Rockin’ 4 the Environment: Sun Bear Rock event

25-Apr-12 15:31

[ Programme Segment: Earth Matters ]

Earth Matters Podcasts

The Malayan sun bear, the world’s smallest bear species, is classified as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction on the IUCN red list.

We find out more about the Malayan Sun Bear from Wong Siew Te of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and Kenny Peavy of the Environmental Education Alliance of South East Asia, who are also behind the Rockin’ 4 the Environment: Sun Bear Rock, an event which hopes to raise awareness on sun bears among the masses.

==============================================================

Wong’s notes:

Thank you Meera Sivasothy, Juliet Jacobs from the BFM89.9, Jasmine Low, and Kenny for arraigning this interview and create another opportunity to make the little known sun bears well known!

Meera interviewed Kenny and I in BFM89.9 studio.

 

 

 

Text and photo by Gloria Ganang

Today the BSBCC welcomed a group of students from the Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto. The group comprises of Professor Sean Thomas and 24 master’s students. Besides telling them about the history and operation of the centre, we get to share information about sun bears as well. We were pleased to see them so keen to know more about the sun bear and there were many good questions from the conservationist group.

BSBCC would like to thank the students and Professor Sean Thomas of the Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto for visiting us and also for their donation towards the centre. We really appreciate your support and it would definitely make a difference especially towards the sun bears. We wish you all of the best and success in your studies!

Trying to catch a glimpse of the sun bears at the forest enclosure

Professor Sean Thomas and Roshan (BSBCC volunteer) observing sun bears from the observation platform.

Group photo before leaving Sepilok.