Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

Category: BSBC UK | Date: Feb 26 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

The following newspaper article show up in today’s (Thursday 26th February 2009) Recoder: www.ilfordrecorder.com.

Thanks Julie for the hard work! 

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Category: habitat loss, sun bear in the wild, threats | Date: Feb 19 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

Posted at: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/20/nation/3310743&sec=nation

Friday February 20, 2009

Perhilitan rangers catch pesky sun bear

JELI: Villagers in Kampung Pasir Dusun can sleep easier now that a sun bear, which had been destroying their crops, has been captured. 

Wildlife and National Park Department rangers caught the female bear using an iron cage trap recently.

Ramlan Derani, 38, said the bear had been a problem for the past three years and a lot of the crops had been damaged by the bear.

“There was nothing we could do,” he said.

Zaki Muhamad, 40, said the villagers had been complaining about the bear since last year.

“The problem will never stop as long as the forests are cleared for planting or logging activities. The animals will surely encroach into the villages,” he said.

State department director Fazli Abdulfatah said the bear had been sent to the Malacca Zoo.

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Category: BSBCC, captivity, sanctuary | Date: Feb 19 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

 The following journal was written by Fiona McInally, a volunteer from UK who came to help orangutans at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center and our sun bear center. Thanks Fiona for helping the bears and shared your experience working with us!

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‘The volunteer placement at Sepilok in Borneo, is spilt into 4 rotations around the centre and my group were lucky enough to do the Jungle Trekking for our first rotation. Before we all started work, we had a talk from Wai Pak, who works for the BSBCC about the Sun Bears they have, which most of us had not heard about before , and we were told we had the opportunity to help at the BSBCC in the afternoon on the Jungle Trekking rotation. Myself and the other 2 girls in my group, Georgie and Kate, were really keen to get involved and help look after the Bears that we knew so little about.

It was quite a upsetting when we first went to see the Sun Bears, it is always sad to see animals in captivity when they should be in the wild, knowing many of them may have been mistreated and it was also sad to see that the BSBCC was in such need of upgrading. However, it was also really inspiring to see the work that the people at the BSBCC were doing to try and help the Sun Bears and improve their lives and also to hear about the plans for the new centre, fund raising for which was well underway.

From the first day working at the BSBCC we got stuck in to trying to make a difference, by clearing out the current building of all old equipment, furniture and cleaning out the Sun Bear cages. It was really hard work but also so rewarding to see the difference we could make. We so enjoyed working at the BSBCC that Georgie and I went back there to help out on some of the days we had off later in our placement and also got a collection going for a new fridge for the BSBCC to store the Bears food. We had been told that the Sun Bears really like sweet things, especially honey, and when we next went to the supermarket we picked up fresh fruits, dried fruits nuts and a few other treats we thought the Sun Bears would like to try (the really love the breakfast cereal Honey Stars!).

It was so nice to see the Bears enjoying new things and we wondered what else we could to make life a little more interesting for them. The Bears had some coconuts to play with but near whilst walking to the centre one day, Georgie and I saw some Bamboo that had fallen over and we thought this might make some interesting play items for the Sun Bears. With the help of one of the rangers at Sepilok, we cut the bamboo into lengths and took them up to the BSBCC - it was a great success and it was clear the Sun Bears relished having something new and interesting to play with and pull apart. Watching them made us wonder if we could make something even more interesting to provide enrichment for the Bears and bamboo seemed the ideal material for making a ladder. We had seen some disused rope on an old climbing frame at the from of the BSBCC which we managed to get down (with a bit of daredevil ladder antics of our own) and with the help of the same wonderful ranger, we cut several length or bamboo (about a foot long each) and cut holes at each end, through which to thread the rope. We tied knots below each rung to hold them in place and slowly made a ladder long enough to stretch the diagonal width of the largest Sun Bear cage.

From the moment the Bears saw the rope being tied up in the top corner of the cage, it was clear to see how curious they were, reaching out to try and touch the rope and sticking there noses through the neighbouring cages to smell what was going on! Once the rope was secure, we left the cage and let some of the Bears in - and what a wonderful sight! At first they were tentative but it did not take them long to start climbing, chewing, swinging and generally having a great time. It was clear after watching the Sun Bears with the ladder for 20 minutes that it was not going to last a long time, but the reward of watch the Sun Bears enjoying the ladder was worth making it several times over! It was so rewarding to help make a difference to the Sun Bears. As with all animals it is so important to provide them with enrichment when they are in captivity and I so hope that other volunteers are as inspired as we were with the work of the BSBCC that they continue to think up new ways to provide the Suns Bears with the stimulation they need.’

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Category: BSBCC, captivity, conservation, poaching | Date: Feb 18 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

On the morning of January 19, the staff from the Wildlife Department sent in a new bear to Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. Her name is Kuamut. She is a sub adult female sun bear captured in Kuamut area, a village near to Kinabatangan River in Sabah. Kuamut is another unfortunate sun bear that share similar story with other caged bears. She was kept as a pet as a small cub, with her mother probably being killed by poachers. When her size was getting bigger, stronger and more dangerous, the owner decided not to keep her any longer. The owner released her back to the forest (luckily not slaughter her for her body parts) but she kept coming back to the village because she was habituated to people and associated human with food. At the end, the villagers contacted the wildlife department, who confiscated the bear and sent her to our centre. 

She was kept inside a small iron cage when she arrived, slightly skinny but in good health. We were so shocked to see she had a long-thick chain on her neck! She was pacing non-stopped, and extremely stressful. The chain was dragged inside the iron cage, made a very uncomfortable noise to everybody and the bear. I am sure the bear’s feeling was even worst!

We named this 26kg bear as Kuamut, to remember the village where she came from. Hopefully, she can have a more comfortable place to stay in the very soon. With no chain on her neck, she soon will live like other bears in our center. Once our new bear house is finished, we hope she can enjoy the forest once more with better quality of life. We hope one day she could be a candidate to be rehabilitate into the wild again. Let hope for that! 

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Category: BSBCC, Fund raising, Siew Te Wong, conservation | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

In my past three blog about ZACC, I posted a wall of logos on the generous donors and kind funding agencies who funded my works on sun bears over the last 10 years. I would like you to pay a little attention to a logo located at right center:

This logo belongs to Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara (Bukit Damansara National Primary  School) in Kuala Lumpur.   http://www.skbd.edu.my/news.php. They are very special to me and sun bear. I would like recognize them because they are the only Malaysian source of funding I received from 1998- 2007. In 2005, the school raised RM1000 (about US$285) from primary school students for my doctorate study on sun bear in Sabah. Although the amount is not great compare to my other funds, I was and am very touched by their good acts and I still think this was the greatest fund I ever received because the fund come from my own country-Malaysia, and come from the future elites and leaders of the country. I see hope.

The good acts from Bukit Damansara National School for sun bear did not stopped in 2005. It moves on. In 2008, under the leadership of Md. Sook Pinn Chean and her team at the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Bukit Damansara National School launched “Save Our Sun Bear” campaign to raise awareness for sun bear conservation in the school and the community. From May to December 2008, the school has a series of activities to SAVE OUR SUN BEARS:

“Sun Bear Man” Visit (May)

The campaign got a good kick-start with my presentation the plight and conservation of sun bear. This was my first talk to such a young audience, mainly 8-12 year old with few parents and teachers from the school. Although the topic sound serious, I tried to make it as fun and exciting as possible. At the end of my talk, I asked, “How many of you want to be a wildlife expert like me?” Everyone in the audience raised their hand!

I see hope and bring future for wildlife.

Interclass Competition  (July)

Ten classes took part (Years 4 and 5) in putting up an impressive display of information on Sun Bears in the “Endangered Species Gallery”.  Judges from the Malaysian Nature Society (M.N.S.) were invited to judge the competition.  The winners received certificates from M.N.S. and were treated to a day trip to Deerland in Lanchang, Pahang where the students had the opportunity to interact with a family of three sun bears.

Lower Primary Participation  (July)

The lower primary classes also contributed a lot of information and artwork on sun bears for the gallery display.  For example, Year 1 – teddy bear collages, Year 2 – bear origami and Year 3 – bear poems.

“Fun Friday Night” School Fair  (August)

SKBD T-shirts also bearing the logo of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and other bear merchandise such as key chains, phone strings, soft toys were sold at the school fair to raise funds.

Art Competition/Making of Calendar  (September)

Around 100 children participated.  19 pieces of art were selected to grace a 2009 desk-top calendar on sun bears.  These calendars were sold in December 2008 and January 2009 to raise funds.

“Goldilocks & The Bears”  (November)

“Save an Endangered Species-save our sun bear” performances were held on 18^th November by 60 children from the school drama club.  This performance was the culmination of the children’s year-long activities.  We greatly appreciate KLPAC’s generous sponsorship of 50% of the theatre costs in support of our educational project intended to create environmental awareness and also as an educational experience in the performing arts for Malaysian school children.  

Donation to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC)  (December)

The PTA has so kind to earmarked RM5,000 (US$1500) from our successful “Save Our Sun Bears” campaign to be donated the BSBCC in Sepilok, Sabah in support of their conservation and rehabilitation efforts. This is the  second time that the school has donated fund to my sun bear project. Thank you Bukit Damansara National School!! You are the best!!  

From all of these activities, I am sure that I am not working alone to help sun bears. I see hope. I see bright light. I see a better future!

Photo credits: Aiman Rashad & Low Mei Ling

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Category: BSBCC | Date: Feb 11 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

Our new charity in UK, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation UK is slowly forming up. Thanks to the hard work of Julie Trump and many others from UK who have been taking care and work closely with our bears at BSBCC.

This is the first announcement of the first meeting of BSBC UK:

 New members welcome!

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation UK MEETING

Saturday 14^th March – 1pm

Le Pain Quotidien St Pancras International, LONDON  

Unit 4 St Pancras International
Euston Road
London NW1 2QL

Travel
Tube/ Train: Kings Cross St Pancras
Bus: 214, 390, 17, 91, 259, 476, 73, 30, 205, 63, 45, 46, 10  

How to go there?

http://maps.google.co.uk:80/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=NW1+2QL&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1

Look forward to seeing you all, Julie Trump For more information please contact: julie.trump@btinternet.com

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Category: captivity, conservation, threats | Date: Feb 10 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

Posing as buyers and suppliers in the illegal wildlife trade, eco warriors have taken hidden cameras where some of the most heinous crimes against nature are taking place: on bear bile farms in China. Other Earth saviors have packed unhidden cameras when they’ve gone on rescue missions to record the conditions of the bears they save and the ones they have to tragically leave behind. These are their photos, their stories, and the history of bear bile farming.

 By Jeanette McDermott
http://ecopaparazzi.ning.com/

As many as 10,000 Asiatic black bears in China are locked in cages the size of their own bodies, and their bile is drained through an excruciatingly painful procedure and sold for use in traditional medicine. So they can approach the bears without fear of injury, the farmers often mutilate the bears by breaking their teeth and pulling out their claws, sometimes brutally removing whole digits. 

Milking and selling the bile is not the farmers’ only source of profit from the bears. Some farmers amputate one or two paws from live bears to sell to restaurants. When bears are no longer able to secrete bile, they are left to die from sickness or starvation. Bears perceive terror and despair and feel pain the same as we do, and they endure this torture for up to 25 years. Try to imagine it. 

Many of the bears in bile farms are captured illegally in the wild as cubs. Poachers wait until the mother leaves the den in search of food to capture new-born cubs. Sometimes she is killed to get the babies. Other times cubs are born in captivity from pregnant bears that were poached from the wild. In either case, the bear cubs rarely survive the ordeal. Any surviving cubs are removed from their mothers too early and put into cages, where they sometimes grow into the bars as their bodies mature. 

The bears show their distress and suffering by banging their heads against the cage bars, gnawing on the bars, and at times tearing the flesh from their paws and arms in a futile attempt to deflect their thoughts from the main source of pain. The sores bleed, resulting in further serious infection. The bears are usually milked twice a day, before feeding, when more bile is produced. They moan and writhe in pain and clutch their stomachs as the bile drains from their bodies. Sometimes the bears try to pull out the catheters. Those that do, are immobilized in an iron corset. Under-nourished and highly stressed from horrific pain and unnatural confinement, the bears lie in agony, in their own filth.

 This is Willow. He was 10 years old when he arrived at the Animals Asia sanctuary in 2004. He died last year from a massive liver tumor — a result of his treatment on the bile farm.

“Bear bile farming is the worst animal welfare scenario I have ever encountered,” said Swiss born conservation media activist Karl Ammann.

Amman has been named by Time magazine and CNN as a “Hero of the Environment.” He is credited with almost single-handedly raising awareness about the issue of bush meat, the slaughter and consumption of wild — and often protected — animals. He has reported on and photographed the likes of hog-tied crocodiles, charbroiled monkeys and severed gorilla heads draining into saucepans, but these don’t compare to bear bile farming he says. Read more about responses, rescues and renewal. 

Workers extract bear bile from the gall bladder of a bear in Myanmar.

Bear bile is totally unnecessary, according to countless scientific studies. Chinese use bear bile for their traditional medicines (TCM), claiming it cures a range of ailments – from hemorrhoids to hangovers, to colds and cancer. But research shows there are more than 50 far more effective and affordable herbal alternatives, as well as many synthetic options.

Amman says, “Bear bile farming is about making a fast buck, not surviving or feeding the family. These bears and other wildlife species are protected from being traded internationaly by the CITES Convention. China and Myanmar are both signatories to this and other conventions, yet many of their citizens and officials show flagrant disregard for the law and there has been little enforcement by the authorities.”

Global citizens take action
People around the world are taking a strong stand against bear farming and making their voices heard to get China’s attention.

The animal welfare organization One Voice commissioned a report recently on the condition of bears in China, the role played by animal-welfare charities there, and the short- and long-term measures that must be taken to close down all the bear farms.

All 25 member states in the European Union have signed a declaration to support putting an end to bear farming.

World Society of the Protection of Animals is working worldwide to change and enforce laws to prevent commercial trade in bears, bear parts and bile, including western countries like the U.S. and Canada. Their successes are documented online.

Popular Taiwanese rock star Xin and film actor Jackie Chan are using their fame to denounce bear bile farming.

Later this year Animals Asia will open an education village in Chengdu to advance consciousness about living in harmony with nature and animals.

WSPA has created a lifelike mechanical bear that moves and groans in pain inside a tiny cage, as “bile” drips from its wound. WSPA uses the simulation at Earth Day, press conferences and large public events to raise awareness of bear bile farms.

Transported by road on the back of trucks, 46 sick and unduly stressed bears fight for life as they travel to the Animals Asia China Bear Rescue Sanctuary.

Of the eight species of bear in the world, all except the giant panda have seen their numbers reduced as a result of the bear bile industry. Asiatic black bears are most affected by the trade because of the high content of the “magic ingredient” ursodeoxycholic acid in their bile. The bears are also known as “moon bears” because of the yellow crescents on their chests. They are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Appendix I, the category for the most critically endangered species.

Animals Asia Foundation is the only NGO actively rescuing farmed bears in China. Founder and CEO Jill Robinson signed a landmark agreement with the Chinese authorities in July 2000 to close down the worst bear farms and rescue the bears. To date, Animals Asia has rescued 247 bears and brought them to its Moon Bear Rescue Center in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Animals Asia is in continuing negotiations with senior Chinese officials in an effort to bring an end to bear farming.

History
Bear farming began in China in the early 1980s when entrepreneurs adopted a procedure developed in North Korea to extract bile through surgically implanted catheters. It was claimed that this method would satisfy the local demand for bile and reduce the number of bears killed in the wild for their gall bladders and other body parts. Tragically, the situation grew out of control and by the early 1990s, there were over 400 bear farms in operation, containing more that 10,000 bears. Plans were in place to increase the number of bears on farms to 40,000 by 2000.     

Animals Asia Founder and CEO Jill Robinson visited a bear farm in 1993 and exposed the cruel industry through images that shocked the world. International outcry followed. Chinese authorities acknowledged the concerns of the international community and, rather than expanding the number of bear farms, began reducing them.

With increased public awareness, the market for bear bile began to plunge and farmers saw a major impact on their profits. The supply of bear bile on the market rapidly overtook demand. In order to use the surplus, many farmers began making other products from the bile, such as throat lozenges, shampoo, wine, and tea.

Today, there are officially 7,000 bears on 68 farms throughout China. As many smaller farms have consolidated, Animals Asia fears the number of bears could still be as high as 10,000.

In Vietnam, fewer than 100 Asiatic black bears remain in the wild, while about 4,000 bears are held in cages on bile farms. Although bile extraction has been technically illegal since 1992, the practice remains widespread. The farms welcome busloads of visiting Koreans, who are among the world’s biggest consumers of bear bile.

Animals Asia has been negotiating with the Vietnamese Government since 1999 on the issues arising from non-enforcement of the law. In 2005, after years of lobbying by a number of international and local NGOs, the authorities promised to act to phase out bear bile farming. In 2006, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the Vietnam Forest Protection Department to build its sanctuary in Tam Dao National Park near Hanoi and to rescue 200 bears from farms.

At this time, the World Society for the Protection of Animals worked with Vietnam’s Forest Protection Unit to microchip all the country’s bears after the government introduced a law stating that any bears found without microchips on farms would be confiscated and placed in Animals Asia’s care.

In early 2009, Animals Asia had rescued 24 bears in Vietnam. Animals Asia investigators have revealed two methods of bile extraction in Vietnam. In both cases, the bears are incarcerated in small cages, the physical and mental suffering that they endure is extreme, and the mortality rate is high.

Veterinarians have described bile leaking from the gall bladders of bile bears as “black sludge.”

Crude surgery: Bears once underwent major abdominal surgery to remove bile from their gall bladders every three months. The surgery was crude and unhygienic and, according to the Vietnam government, the bears usually suffered four such operations before dying from the infection and pain. Animals Asia believes this method was phased out in the early 2000s.

Ultrasound: Another method, introduced around 2002, entails the extraction of bile with the assistance of an ultrasound machine, catheter and medicinal pump. The bears are drugged – usually with ketamine – restrained with ropes and (if the operator is unskilled) have their abdomens repeatedly jabbed with four-inch needles until the gall bladder is found. Animals Asia suspects the process leads to dangerous leakage of bile into the body and a slow and agonizing death from peritonitis.

Animals Asia is calling on the authorities to act on growing concerns over the safety to consumers of bile taken from such sick bears. The bears’ livers and gall bladders are often severely diseased, the bile contaminated with pus, blood and feces.

A healthy bear’s bile is as fluid as water and ranges in color from bright yellow-orange to green. However, Animals Asia’s vets have described bile leaking from the gall bladders of the rescued bears as “black sludge.” Eminent Chinese and Vietnamese pathologists have warned users of traditional Chinese medicine not to consume bile taken from such sick bears.

The prized ingredient in bear bile, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), is used by TCM practitioners for a myriad of complaints; however, UDCA is synthesized easily under laboratory conditions and is pure, clean and reliable.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong announced in December 2008 that initial findings into their four-year study of the effectiveness of extracts from two species of the herb “coptis” compared with raw bear bile and purified active ingredients from bear bile. The tests showed coptis to be far more effective than bear bile at killing cancer cell lines.

 We can stop bear bile farming.

Jasper spent 15 years in a crush cage unable to move before being rescued by Animals Asia. Here he is today at the sanctuary.

There is a lot we can do to restore freedom, dignity and life back to the bears. Most importantly, we can spread the word far and wide about this horrendous practice, and we can support those organizations that are working to stop it – as volunteers, assistants, advocates, donors and grant writers.

We can write letters to governments and politicians, create websites to raise awareness and help undercover eco warriors expose environmental crimes. What we cannot do is sit idle.

Put pressure on your government to add a political voice against bear bile farming. This link provides addresses and a template for a well-crafted letter.

Blow the whistle when you know something is wrong, or suspect that something is wrong. It’s because of an astute citizen that three tiny Moon Bear cubs were rescued from a secret compartment under a passenger bus. The cubs were confiscated by Vietnam customs at the Lao/Vietnamese border crossing in Dien Bien Province after a tip-off that the bus might be carrying illegal wildlife. The cubs are now safe at Animals Asia’s Vietnam sanctuary.

“The rewards for working with this intelligent, forgiving species, and the rewards for people who give their faith and support to the rescue are seeing animals who awaken each morning with the freedom to simply stretch their limbs - and seeing us one step closer in our journey of a thousand miles towards ending a practice which should never have begun,” said Jill Robinson.    

Rupert “Roo” survived an ordeal on a bear farm that left him physically deformed and mentally ill, but today he lives in peace at the Animals Asia sanctuary in China.

Photos courtesy of Animals Asia, World Society for the Protection of Animals and National Geographic. Special thanks to Jill Robinson, Angela Leary and Karl Ammann for their assistance with the story. LINKS
Happy rescued bear photosAnimals Asia

World Society for the Protection of Animals

One Voice

Wildlife Direct

Humane Society of the U.S.

21 responses so far

Category: BSBCC, Siew Te Wong, beartrek, conservation, sun bear in the wild | Date: Feb 08 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

Sorry for the long silent, now I am back to action and hope I can keep up posting stories and development about our works to help sun bears.

OK, start with ZACC. I really felt honored to be invited to this conference and gave a presentation about BSBCC: Hope for the Bornean Sun Bears. My presentation was scheduled on the second day. After listened to many great presentations and many great conservation efforts, I was humbled and shy to speak in front of the audience, because what I have doing for the past 10 years was studied sun bears and have not really help them on the ground yet. Anyway, I did deliver my presentation with full passion and enthusiasm with an optimistic heart. I know every good conservation project started with where I am now- a HOPE.

I HOPE one day, maybe few years from now, I can be invited again to ZACC conference again to share some of my success stories to conserve sun bears just like every body else who presented their great conservation works during the conference. That’s why I told the audience at the beginning of my talk that I am an optimistic person, I have high HOPE that we can help sun bears, and the sun bears will have HOPE, as long as we committed to what we are planning to do for them and HOPE that the supports from everyone in the audience can ongoing and even more. All start with HOPE..

I think I did well during my presentation. Beside telling the audience what is a sun bear, how they live in the wild, and how special they are (FYI, that is the “happy” and “cool” site of sun bear), I also told the plight of sun bear (FYI, that is the “sad” and the “not so cool” site of the sun bear and how we human treated sun bears). At the end of the presentation, I squeezed in a 6 min clip of BEARTREK, which I am thankful for the extra time that the organizer gave me.

At the last three slide of my presentation, I acknowledged all the funding agencies and individuals who has funded my sun bear works every the last 10 years. Most of them were from the US’s Zoos. Their supports and contributions made me who I am today. My achievement and works could not be possible without your support. I urged them not to abandon the sun bears or me because it is now that I am starting to, seriously, engage in the conservation of this forgotten bear. My second last slide was a family photo, who I owe and love them with all of my life for being away from the family for many years and thankful for them.

Finally, this is my last slide: who dare to say sun bear is not cute and do not deserve conservation attention and our help to save them from extinction!

Many in the audience sobbed quietly.

Special thanks to Peter Riger from Houston Zoo who brought me to Houston to meet many great conservationists and many people who funded my work, whom I only know in my mailbox and a name. Thank you all! I still need your help! Sun bear still need your helps! WE still need your help!

Please feel free to contact me at: wongsiew@hotmail.com to find out how you can help us beside donate online at this site. Thank you again for all of you who supported me and help the sun bears and the shake my hand during the conference.

I see HOPE.    

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