Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

Category: Siew Te Wong, beartrek | Date: Apr 29 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

It was truly a fun evening with a lot of laughter with Chris Morgan, Joe Pontecorvo, John Taylor, and many others from the BEARTREK family and guests that make it to the party on April 23^rd to cerebrate the achievement that Wildlife Media accomplished and keep the spirit of Beartrek high.

The evening was joined by over a hundred guests and fans of bear and BEARTREK. It was a fun evening that brought up a lot of the sweet memories and stories during the filming in Bornean rainforest, Cerah the little sun bears, and the blood sucking leeches.

 I would like to take this opportunity to specially thank Chris and John over and over again to feature sun bear and pick me to work with in the movie. I really hope BEARTREK will change the faith of sun bear- the least known bear and a forgotten bear species, so that people around the world will know and help a little bear call sun bears!

  Below is a thank you letter from Chris Morgan:

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April 24, 2009

What an evening!

On behalf of Wildlife Media staff and board, thank you for joining us in celebration last night. It was an evening to remember. Truly, Wildlife Media (WM) couldn’t have come this far without your help and support. So it was a real treat to share the presentation and BEARTREK demo reel with you in a place as fun as the Big Picture.

Speaking of treats, we hope you also enjoyed biologists Robyn Appleton and Siew Te Wong who shared their “bear worlds” with us. Their stories from the field remind us of the importance and benefits of working with local communities on conservation. And their stories are only two of many to be told through BEARTREK.

I’d like to recognize just a few of the people behind last night’s event. WM co-founder, CEO, and board chair John Taylor was instrumental in making this celebration happen. Plus, photographer Tim Chandonnet donated his time to capture the night in pictures. To see and purchase photos from the evening, visit Tim’swebsite. Fifty percent of photo sales go directly to Wildlife Media.

One last note: We want to keep you up-to-speed on our work to help fund critical wildlife projects around the globe. So beginning with this message, you’ll be hearing more from us on how Wildlife Media and BEARTREK are making a real difference. If you’d like to help spread the word to others, sharing the links below is an excellent place to start:

 20-min. BEARTREK demo reel

Wildlife Media website

Thank you again, everyone, for a memorable evening!

Best regards,

Chris Morgan

Executive Director, Producer

Wildlife Media, including BEARTREK the movie and campaign

Scientist and Conservationist

A group photo of the Wildlife Media board and staff, myself and Andean bear biologist Robyn Appleton that wrapped up the happy evening.

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Category: beartrek | Date: Apr 21 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

I will be traveling to Seattle to join Wildlife Media and John Taylor’s social gathering at the elegant boutique movie venue ‘The Big Picture’ in Seattle on April 23, 2009 at 6:00 pm. The evening is a celebration of what we have accomplished so far for BEARTREK, the movie.

Join Seattle film maker Joe Pontecorvo* and renowned bear biologist Chris Morgan* for a party to present BEARTREK, a global motorcycle adventure and epic homegrown film in support of worldwide bear conservation.

So, Seattle, here I come!

* Joe Pontecorvo’s film “Kingdom of the Elephants” won “Best Natural History or Wildlife Program,” “Best Cinematography,” and “Best Direction” at the Asian Television Awards in December 2008.  Joe and Chris are also currently working on a PBS Nature/National Geographic TV Special on the bears of Alaska.

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Category: beartrek | Date: Apr 19 2009 | By: Siew Te Wong

Original posting: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/255/story/875411.html 

Bellingham ecologist makes bear documentary to save wild places

KIE RELYEA - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD 

Bellingham ecologist Chris Morgan is taking his BMW motorcycle on a journey to four continents in search of the world’s endangered bears - an epic adventure being made into a feature-length documentary called “Beartrek.” 

The goal isn’t just to show the bears in their habitat, stunning as the wild coast of Katmai, Alaska, and the rainforest canopy of Borneo, Malaysia, may be when shot in high definition.

The idea is to raise money for conservation efforts by selling audiences on why wild bears in wild places should matter to people, to spin an entertaining tale that will do for conservation what Al Gore did for climate change in “An Inconvenient Truth.”  

“They represent these wild places that we all need. Where you’ve got bears, you’ve got fresh water, you’ve got clean air, you’ve got intact forest and ecosystems,” Morgan said one day over coffee. “They need those things, and so do we.” 

“Beartrek,” which is still being shot, follows Morgan and his motorcycle to seven locations in Canada, Alaska, Peru, India, Borneo and Mongolia. In addition to Morgan, who also narrates the film, the featured stars will be giant brown bears in Alaska, polar bear cubs in Canada and Alaska, sloth bears in India, sun bears in Borneo, elusive Andean bears in Peru, and brown bears in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. 

INSPIRED BY SCIENCE

Morgan grew up in England and had plans, early on, to become a graphic designer.When he was 18, the outdoors lover came to New Hampshire to teach kids at a summer camp how to fish. And that was where a bear biologist’s presentation sent his life in a new direction.“I was transfixed. I had no idea you could do that kind of thing in life,” he said. 

Morgan would go on to become an ecologist specializing in bears and, over the years, he would work on each of the four continents where bears existed. 

“Everywhere I went, I could see biologists who were struggling to do this important work with limited funds and limited exposure,” Morgan said. Locally, he’s known for the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project, which he started some six years ago to educate the public about the dwindling number of grizzly bears in the North Cascades. 

Morgan said there are probably about 10 grizzlies remaining within 10,000 square miles in the Cascades. Those square miles were designated as a grizzly bear recovery zone in 1991. 

“So they’re practically the walking dead,” he said. “They are highly endangered, one of the rarest populations of mammals in North America.” 

As Morgan continued his own work, he mulled over the idea of supporting the other scientists he’d met as well as using his particular talent for making people “hyped and inspired by our wild places.” Morgan landed on the idea of doing that through bears, iconic creatures who are in peril. Five out of the world’s eight species are at risk. 

“Bears capture people’s imagination like no other creatures,” he said. “People love them or loathe them, but they’re seldom indifferent about them.” 

SAVING BEARS BY ENTERTAINING PEOPLE

Morgan hatched the idea for “Beartrek” over a beer with Joe Pontecorvo, a Seattle-based wildlife filmmaker and producer. They met in Alaska while Morgan was guiding a group of people to see brown bears, also known as grizzlies, and Pontecorvo was filming bears for PBS. 

Pontecorvo said he needed to do more for conservation, and while nature films were good for “spectacle,” not enough was being done to protect the planet. 

He and Morgan also wanted to tell the good news about existing efforts. 

“I always say we all know the sky is falling when it comes to the environment, but there are also some really good ways to prop up the sky,” Morgan explained. “We can change the course of events.” 

And do it in a way that draws gearheads and environmentalists into theaters, “not just the already converted,” Pontecorvo said. 

That’s where Morgan’s motorcycle comes in. He and Pontecorvo figured that a story about a guy riding his BMW through the back roads into the wild would appeal to adventurers out there, even if they’re not green. 

“Beartrek” also is a wildlife documentary meant to entertain along the lines of “March of the Penguins” and “Winged Migration.” And like those films, Morgan and other conservationists who started the venture hope to release “Beartrek” in theaters as well as DVD, TV, the Internet, and any medium that will spread the message. 

Pontecorvo also sees “Beartrek” as a new model for conservation in that its profits will be sunk into bear conservation. Existing conservation efforts and the scientists behind them already are getting help, even though the documentary isn’t finished. “They couldn’t wait,” Pontecorvo said. 

Some $25,000 to $30,000 worth of materials and aid, including cash, already have gone to biologists working to save bears. “It doesn’t have to be an awful lot of money. It goes so far in the places where they need it most,” Morgan said. 

The overall project is being handled by Wildlife Media, a nonprofit started in September 2007 to manage “Beartrek” and the goal of raising $2 million, with half of that going directly to bear projects around the world, including those featured in the film. 

BEARS’ VIEW

Bear and motorcycle enthusiasts don’t have to wait until the film is finished to see Morgan and Pontecorvo’s beautiful handiwork. A 20-minute demo reel of their venture to Alaska and Borneo already is being used to raise private dollars for the documentary and conservation projects. 

“Beartrek” opens with sweeping views of the rugged Katmai coast in Alaska, where giant brown bears, or grizzlies, gather in big numbers each year. 

“These bears start life the weight of a squirrel and end life the weight of a car,” Morgan narrates, as bears run around a stream and snatch salmon from the water. 

These are the largest, most impressive bears in the world, living in one of the most intact ecosystems, Morgan said in a separate interview. They can weigh as much as 1,500 pounds and are capable of consuming 30,000 calories a day. 

Contrast that with the second part of the demo, where Morgan travels to Borneo in search of the sun bear - the smallest bear species in the most diverse place in Asia. A big sun bear weighs 100 pounds. 

There, Morgan rides his motorcycle into a rainforest being logged - 50 percent has been lost in the past 20 years - make way for palm-oil plantations that stretch for mile after mile. Palm oil is found in many everyday products, from ice cream to cosmetics. It’s also a bio fuel, and the world’s hunger for it is destroying the habitat for sun bears and other wildlife. 

In Borneo, Morgan meets up with Siew Te Wong, a biologist trying to save the bears, including an orphaned sun bear club named “Chera,” which means “bright” in Malay. 

Pontecorvo recorded Chera, then 10 months old, being released from a cage and playing, first hesitantly then with abandon. 

“It was the most amazing thing to watch,” the filmmaker said. 

Morgan is raising money to go on the next shoot in Peru, home to the most ancient bear species on the planet - the threatened Andean bear, so rarely seen that biologists don’t know how many still exist. The Peru shoot will cost about $95,000, and a little over half has been raised. The hoped-for theatrical release date for “Beartrek” is 2010. 

“What we want to do is make conservation a social norm,” he said. “I know that sounds like a huge goal, and it is.”  

Reach KIE RELYEA at kie.relyea@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2234. 

TO LEARN MORE

• Additional information about “Beartrek” and Wildlife Media, including how to make a tax-deductible donation to the making of the feature-length film and bear conservation efforts, is available online at wildlifemedia.org.

• Find Grizzly Bear Outreach Project at bearinfo.org.

• More on Joe Pontecorvo, the wildlife filmmaker who’s shooting “Beartrek,” at joepontecorvo.com.

Watch a 20-minute short of “Beartrek”

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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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Category: beartrek | Date: May 18 2008 | By: Siew Te Wong

A conservation story wrapped in an adventure
BEARTREK is a feature length documentary that follows renowned bear biologist and naturalist Chris Morgan on a global crusade to understand and conserve the rarest bears on Earth.
Join Chris on an epic motorcycle adventure across four continents to the wildest places on Earth -uncover the secretive nature of the world’s most endangered bears, discover the threats facing them in the wild, and meet dedicated individuals racing to saving them from extinction.

Our film is an emotional one. Why? Because the places, people and bears that we will be meeting along the way will move you. The destinations are exotic (among them are Peru, Mongolia, Borneo, Alaska and India). The bears will amaze you (India alone has four species), and the stories will grip you. Imagine tracking sloth bears by elephant back in tiger country, following the emotional release of a captive sun bear in Borneo, or immersing yourself in a tiny Andean town where a soccer league determines the fate of the local bears.

BEARTREK brings the amazing world of bears to the big screen as you have never seen before -a stunning natural history adventure that will change your view of the world, and inspire you to take action.

I am honored to be part of story featured in BEARTREK. In this movie, I will tell you my field work on sun bears in the rainforest of Borneo and show you some of the very rare footages of sun bear. Sun bears receive very little media coverage and publicity until now. I hope BEARTREK will introduce you this little known and little bear species- the sun bear!

Click here to see the latest promo video on BEARTREK http://homepage.mac.com/pontecorvo1/DOWNLOAD/iMovieTheater83.html

Please learn more about the movie at
http://www.wildlifemedia.org

Tags: bear, beartrek, movie, sun bear

6 responses so far