Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

Hope at last for Borneo’s Sun Bears

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Centre to help preserve Sabah’s sun bears

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: Siew Te Wong

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/11/18/southneast/2563985

Tuesday November 18, 2008

Centre to help preserve Sabah’s sun bears

By RUBEN SARIO

KOTA KINABALU: Having established itself as home for wildlife such as the orang utan, Sumatran rhino, Borneo pygmy elephant and proboscis monkey, Sabah intends to give more attention to its population of sun bears.

Noting that Sabah’s sun bears were one of the world’s eight bear species, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the state wanted to protect the mammal, which was considered a unique species.

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 Needing care: File photo of sun bear researcher Wong Siew Te handling a sun bear in the cage at Sepilok near Sandakan.

“The task for us is to raise awareness on this little-known animal,” he said at a fund-raising event here recently for the establishment of a RM1.2mil sun-bear rehabilitation and conservation centre in Sepilok, Sandakan.

He said that research had shown that Borneo, particularly Sabah, was the last habitat for sun bears.

He said that conservation efforts must include getting them back into the wild.

The centre will be the first of its kind in Asia.

It is being set up jointly by the state’s wildlife and forestry departments and non-governmental organisation Land Empowerment Animals People, which organised the fund-raising event featuring Malaysian artistes.

Musa said the centre would provide opportunities for research on the animals apart from serving as a focal point for sun bear studies in Asia.

He said the centre could be developed as an educational and awareness facility as it was located next to the Sepilok orang utan rehabilitation centre and the Rainforest Discovery Centre.

He said the effort was another example of the close cooperation between state agencies and NGOs.

Musa said that similar efforts in the past had resulted in studies on Sabah’s flora and fauna and how to protect them

6 Responses to “Centre to help preserve Sabah’s sun bears”

Pirjo,Finland, on 18 Nov 2008

I just wanted to tell you how happy I am for you, and that your efforts to protect sun bears have taken a step forward. You really are great people!

TheTeach, on 18 Nov 2008

That’s great news, Wong!

Zack, on 19 Nov 2008

Hi Wong,

Am interested to be a conservation officer, any openings？

Have a degree in Forest Management though..

Do email me ya..

Thanks..

Siew Te Wong, on 19 Nov 2008

Thanks Pirjo and the Teach.

Hi Zack, please send me your resume to wongsiew@hotmail.com.
Thanks for your interest to help up.

Wong

Denise Delaney, on 25 Nov 2008

Hi Wong,
I am wondering if you know of anyhere I can adopt a sunbear for my sister???…we were in Borneo a couple of years ago to see the Orangs in their natural habitat (I had hoped to see the one that my sister had adopted for me but thankfully he had been released back to the wild) and while there we were fortunate enough to be allowed visit a quarantine center…here we saw some sunbears being rehabilated also…they were such a beautiful animal and my sister in particular fell in love with them. I would love to be able to adopt one for her and in doing so help in some part in the conservation of them. I had hoped to organise something while we were in Borneo as we were due to take part on a 2 month volunteer project at Sepilok from September to November. Unfortunatly our mum passed away suddenly 3 weeks before we were to fly so we were unable to go. Hopefully we will get to go again though. In the meantime I would love to adopt a sunbear for Shirley but have been unable to find anywhere to do this apart from some American Zoos. It would be great if you could advise me if it is possible to adopt a sunbear.
keep up the good work,
regards,
Denise

Siew Te Wong, on 25 Nov 2008

Hi Denise,
Thanks for writing. Adopt a sun bear? You are looking at one! Our center is at the beginning phase as you can see from this blog. However, in the near future we would like to have an “adopt a sun bear” program for people to adopt these adorable animals at the same time can learn more about individual sun bears under our care. So far we are not quite ready yet but perhaps with your request, we could start developing it soon. Anyway, we need donations to take care of our bears. If you would like you can always donate online via Wildlife Direct (this site).
If you are going to be a volunteer at Sepilok, you are actually at our center! BSBCC is next to, actually is the same site as the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. I am sure you will get to meet all of our sun bears.
P/S: out of curiosity, which facility you visited few years ago in Borneo that you saw sun bear being rehabilitated?

Thanks.
Wong

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