Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

Hope at last for Borneo’s Sun Bears

Support WildlifeDirect:
buy branded merchandise

Sorry for the Long Silence

Category: Siew Te Wong, conservation | Date: Jul 05 2008 | By: Siew Te Wong

I survive!

Sorry for the long silence.

It was a very very hectic times (well, seem hectic all the time but last week was even more so) over the past two weeks as I have many things to cover in my agenda. This is my agenda look like which I have to do them all in a week:

  • Traveled from Kota Kinabalu to Penang where I am from and to visit my father, who is 84 years old.
  • Took my sister’s car to Kuala Lumpur the next day to apply for my US Visa from the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
  • Visited University Putra Malaysia to deliver a talk to professors and students at Department of Veterinary where they plan to have a series of studies on sun bears.
  • Met with a potential funder for BSBCC in Kuala Lumpur
  • Visited a captive sun bear, Wang-Wang, who is raised by private owner at Batu Pahat, Johor state, southern part of West Malaysia. I did made 800 km round trip driving but failed to see the bear. Long story … Will tell you more about it later.
  • Drive back to Penang to have an operation at Pantai Hospital to remove a “lipoma” near my left armpit.

The lump near my left armpit, size of a goose egg, has been surgically removed finally after I found out about it early this year. The lump or a kind of tumor, is actually a fatty tissue that grow in a clump known as “lipoma.” The good news is, it is a benign tumor and not the nasty malignant cancerous tumor. I was “knocked down” by general anesthetic (GA) for an hour and recovering well, I guess, so far. I have been administrating in many anesthetizing events on animals, mainly bears, for research and management, now finally know how it feels like. It feels weird actually. There is a very small chance that I will never “wake-up” from a GA, according to the statistic. However, I woke up. Here is the first thing I did when I gained conscious and capable of holding my cell phone to take a photo of myself- I survived~!

Wong wakes up from surgery

19 Responses to “Sorry for the Long Silence”

sheryl, washington dc, on 05 Jul 2008

You’ve really been busy! Glad to see you’re recovering and very interested to hear about the bear you didn’t see.

s.

Eric Lee, on 05 Jul 2008

Hello.

I like your site and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links.

Thanks in advance

Annie, on 05 Jul 2008

Wow! You have done more in two weeks then most people do…g glad to know you are recovering well……..I bet that was kind of scary!

Paula, on 05 Jul 2008

Hope you get better soon Wong! Don’t over do it, the bears need you! There is a new study that says Malayan sun bears are near extinction - are Malayan and Bornean sun bears different?

sheryl, washington dc, on 05 Jul 2008

Paula, you always scoop my next blog post. ;-) The study was published in the journal “Nature” and you can read more about it here: http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/07/endangered_animals_its_worse_t.html

I’ll have a blog post about it later on today.

s.

Siew Te Wong, on 06 Jul 2008

Hi all, So far I am recovering slowly. Is just that the wound need time to close up and under the tropical climate, it is a bit difficult for me not to sweat which feel hurt and slow down the healing process.
Thanks for the information about the new study. It is an interesting study, which I believe it may happen to many endangered species including sun bears. The official guesstimation on sun bear population in the world stated by IUCN Bear Specialist Group last November was “more than 10,000 animals”. The next day, the press reported the number as “a little over 10,000”, which BSG seems to accept, and IUCN Red Data Book finally agree to upgrade the status as “Vulnerable” as of 2008 (use to be “Data Deficient” since 1994). For comparison, Bornean orangutans numbered 41,000 individuals, classified as “Endangered”, and have dozens of biologists, NGOs, and government agencies across the world trying to save them from extinction. There are many places where sun bears are locally extinct due to habitat destruction, hunting and poaching, plus the nature of low bear density in the forest (due to low food production). This study adds another worry that the sun bears have a bleak future, if the current trend continues.
There are two subspecies of sun bears: Sun bears on Borneo (Helarctos malayanus euryspilus) are smaller from those on the Asian mainland and Sumatra, representing the typical form (H. m. malayanus).

TZ, on 06 Jul 2008

Dude, get well soon eh!!…

Siew Te Wong, on 07 Jul 2008

Hi TZ, I am now. Just I try not to sweat too much and carry heavy thing with my left arm. Other then that I am ok now I think.

Neil Evans, on 08 Jul 2008

Siew Te Wong,
I work for an oil company, I know does not sound very environmental - but actually we do care. I have been involved in quite a few conservation projects - primarily the leatherback turtles over in Trinidad. We are working offshore Sabah, and I have been looking for projects we can fund and advertise. I have been enthralled by the plight of the sun bears. Would you be interested in some such project? I am also looking for around about 10 (short) Malay names for our exploration prospects and projects, is there anything you could suggest from the bears that you work with?
I will keep reading
Regardless all the best
Neil

Siew Te Wong, on 09 Jul 2008

Hi Neil,
Is really good to have someone like you read this blog and willing to help more. Perhaps we could talk more about it with email. My email is wongsiew@hotmail.com. YES! I will be more than interested to learn more about the help you can offer us. We are now pretty desperate for funding. Your email gave us, especially the bears, hopes for a better life and future. Thank you Neil!
Cheers, Wong

Siew Te Wong, on 09 Jul 2008

Hi Eric Lee,
Please feel free to exchange the blogroll links! Thanks!
Wong

Lesley Small, on 10 Jul 2008

Hi Wong, Glad you’re up and about - love to read your blogs - let’s hope funding gets better and the sun bears future improves. Promise I’ll keep working at it, can’t give up too many bears to look after and peoples opinions to change.
Lesley

Siew Te Wong, on 11 Jul 2008

Hi Lesley

Let’s hope so that the fund raising can get better. You are by far one of my friends with very strong persistency. I think persistency will eventually pay off. I learn it from the hard way as I am stubborn and persist on whatever I do and did. This project and responsibility is by far the biggest I ever had in my entire life.
A promise that was given years ago to the cages bears is no way I can take back now. Looking into their eyes through the metal bars of their cages make me depress as time passes by but still lack of success to secure sufficient fund to bring them a better home and better life. This is the promise I made. This is the path I chosen and I have to be persistence to make it a success. Yes, I can do it. Can I? Yes, I can, yes we can, yes, we all can!
Wong

sheryl, washington dc, on 11 Jul 2008

Wong, as you know, that’s the same promise Jill Robinson made to a caged moon bear many years ago. She persisted and developed her sanctuary and programs, and you will, too. We can’t afford not to, the bears need all of us.

s.

TheTeach, Seattle, on 12 Jul 2008

Get well soon, Wong. Sounds like you are making some important progress here with new connections. I wondered if you had also done research on the “spectacled bears” of South America. These bears don’t seem to get much public attention either, and though I believe their numbers are much healthier than sun bears, they too, have an uphill battle for survival ahead of them. It seems to be a similar situation. I recently saw a documentary about the spectacled bear. It was the first I’d ever seen. I learned much in that one hour. I’ve never seen any TV program that was just about sun bears. Usually they are mentioned only briefly in programs about bears in general. That’s why the film you mentioned will be so important. These bears need this kind of publicity, and that will bring interest and funding for projects such as yours. Hang in there! Best Wishes

Siew Te Wong, on 13 Jul 2008

Hi Sheryl,
Is interesting to know that Jill also made the same promise to the caged moon bears. She really make a HUGE different to save those caged moon bears. I just cannot imagine what would be the situation of the moon bears like without Jill’s works. Although the situation faced by sun bears are not as bad as the moon bears, I really hope my work can really grow and follow her footsteps to let the world know about our forgotten bear species- the sun bear!

Siew Te Wong, on 13 Jul 2008

Hi The Teach,
I am getting better and almost recovered by now. Thanks for all the wishes and prayers.
FYI, I never study the spectacle bears. My bear’s works mainly involve the sun bears in Southeast Asia, and American black bears and grizzly bears in Montana, USA. Although I would love to work with other bears as much as possible, so far there are many limitations for me to do so.
Like the sun bear, spectacle bears are difficult to study and illusive thus little publicity. However, they are much better shape than the sun bear due to their habitat is much well protected then the sun bears.
A Sun bear is the least know bear and receives very little coverage in media or anything of its kind. So far there are a handful of very short video clips about sun bears show in few nature documentaries. BEARTREK is the first of its kind that feature sun bears and their habitat. It will be significant to show the world what is a sun bear and what kind of problem that they face now. Hopefully the world will learn more about this bear and start giving loves and cares to this little bears!

Claire Palmer, on 26 Sep 2008

Dear Siew Te Wong,

I was interested to read about BSBC. I am a zoologist too and worked a little with Gabriella in Kalimantan on a sun bear research project in 2005. Do you work closely with Gabby? and I would like to know how the construction of your centre is going. Maybe I could offer you some help in practical terms ..

Great that you are helping these animals caught up in the cruel pet trade.

Best wishes,

Claire Palmer

Siew Te Wong, on 26 Sep 2008

Hi Claire,
Thanks for your message.
Yes, I have been working closely with Gabriella for more than ten year. This center do have many input from Gaby. We have now 11 bears and more will be coming once the facility is build, hopefully sometime early next year and we can accommodate and help more captive bears. Your help is much appreciated. Please feel free to email me wongsiew@hotmail.com to see how can you help on the ground.

Thanks.

Kindest regards,
Wong

Trackback URI | Comments RSS

Leave a Reply