Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

Hope at last for Borneo’s Sun Bears

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Sanctuary for sun bears in Sabah soon

Category: captivity, conservation | Date: Oct 24 2008 | By: Siew Te Wong

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/19/nation/2320080&sec=nation

Sunday October 19, 2008

Sanctuary for sun bears in Sabah soon

By RUBEN SARIO

KOTA KINABALU: There is hope for a bright future for sun bears in Sabah that are facing extinction. A sanctuary is being set up in Sanda­kan for the bears.

The state Wildlife Department together with the state Forestry Department and non-governmental organisation Land Empower­ment Animals People (Leap) will jointly set up the conservation centre next to the orang utan rehabilitation centre.

Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said the sun bear facility would be the first of its kind in Asia and was aimed at rehabilitation, research and education efforts concerning the animal.

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 Protective custody: Researcher Wong Siew Te looking at a sun bear at Sepilok, near Sandakan.

There are already 11 sun bears which the department had seized from various individuals now being kept at Sepilok, he said.

Ambu said that although there were no figures to ascertain the number of sun bears now, wildlife experts were convinced that the mammals would be classified as “endangered” very soon.

“What we do know is that there is a small population of sun bears scattered around the state but their forest habitat is shrinking and they are threatened by poaching,” he told The Star.

Ambu added that the sun bear population worldwide was estimated at about 10,000. A fraction of them are in Sabah.

Leap executive director Cynthia Ong said the organisation and the two departments hoped to get construction of the RM1.2mil sun bear centre going by early next year.

“We are having a fund-raising on Nov 14 at the ShangriLa Tanjung Aru Resort here,” she said.

Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman will be among the guests at the event.

For further details about the sun bear conservation centre, call 088-270 705 or e-mail to info@leapspiral.org.

3 Responses to “Sanctuary for sun bears in Sabah soon”

TheTeach, on 24 Oct 2008

Great news, Wong! You must be elated. This is a great first step in getting more hands-on conservation teams into the field and educating the public there. Also great to hear so many prominant people are lending their presence at the dinner on behalf of conservation efforts in their nation. First a table at WCN Convention in CA, and now this. Well done, Sir! You and your teams are making the difference, spreading the word, leading the effort. Well done, indeed. Best Wishes

papayatreelimited, on 24 Oct 2008

It’s really inspiring to read about the work you and your team are doing, Wong. Congratulations on getting this far!! and good luck.

Siew Te Wong, on 25 Oct 2008

Thanks for your comments. I am glad that I have a team of people putting the fund raising event together and hope that we can be success to raise enough fund and attention for the plights of sun bear. For sure this is the first of its kind to fund raise for any wildlife project in this regions.
What I do realized after many years of works is that conservation does not come cheap. The successes of the any conservation works require both good conservationists and good source of funding. We usually do not lack of good conservationists but always lack of good source of funding. We need help on funding to make all work possible. This idea of this fund raising event is a result of desperate need for fund and multiple failures of getting sufficient fund the traditional ways.
I like the idea of WCN: the WCN’s team fund raise from generous individuals and cooperates to help conservation project in the field so that the conservationists who work on whatever species that they are working with can concentrate their conservation works on the ground. This is a good way to do conservation and one of a very effective way to do it.
Thanks for all of your wishes. Please help us spread the words to the rest of the world. We need your help!
Kindest regards,
~ Wong

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