Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Debbie the female sun bear cub was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department on January 6th and sent to us on the following day. Today (Feb 16,) we did the first health check for Debbie since she was sent here about a month ago. The check up is a routine check up for all new bears house in BSBCC to inspect abnormality, potential diseases, and body condition. Debbie was sedated by the Veterinarian from Sabah Wildlife Department and Orangutan Appeal UK Dr. Nigel Hicks and senior ranger Mr. Elis Tambing. All of the handling process went well.  We also took body measurements, where she tipped the scale at 13 kg, hair samples, and blood sample. Everything looks pretty good for her. Although we did not weigh her when she first came here, I am sure that she has again few kilograms over the past 5 weeks and deposited some fat on her as well as we found out during the check up. Once the blood test results came back and clear for any diseases, she will join the party of Mary and Fulung to form the sun bear cub gang. For the youngster, there are no better enrichment than the companionship of other cubs when they are in captivity. Together they can interact with each other, play fight with each other, support with each other, and snuggle with each other!

Grow well Debbie! We are glad that you are in our care.

The team get ready to sedate Debbie for the health check.

Debbie is a 13 kg sun bear cub now. Good weight for her age.

Dr Nigel and I pay full attention when we handling Debbie.

Debbie unique chest patch. Some say it looks like a roster, some say it look like a wine glass, some say it look like a necklace, what do you think what it look like?

Debbie's front paw- just look like our own hand, but with short hairs growing in between the base of each digits. What are the functions of these hairs? Any guess?

Debbie's feet. Again, very human like, but with short hairs growing between toes.

Debbie's claw- consider small although look big compare with ours. Sun bear's claws are unique: there is a piece of bone inside the claw that keeps growing throughout their lifetime. So an old sun bear will have very large and curved claws.

Checking Debbie's TPR- body temperature, pulse rate, and respiration is important to monitor Debbie's body condition during the anesthesia.

Wai Pak taking body measurements of Debbie. All of these measurements are important information to know about the growth rate of sun bears.

The entire health check is done within 30 minutes. It is time to take Debbie back to her den for recovering.

The recovery process was quick. At 35 minutes after the sedation, she already start recovering from the drug and raised her head up. She is fully recovered after 2 hours and regained her appetite in the afternoon.

Text by Siew Te Wong; Photo by Pia Sundstrom

By WONG Siew Te, CEO and Founder, BSBCC

Debbie the latest rescued sun bear cub was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit on Jan 6th and sent to Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre the following day. Unlike other sun bear cubs we have rescued in the past, Debbie was an aggressive and feisty little baby bear. Her aggressiveness can only mean that she was captured from the wild and keep in captivity for a relatively short period of time. She was still retained her “wildness”, a skill that all wildlife must possess to survive, and not fully “domesticize”. Her aggressiveness also mean that she was suffering from a lot of stress, fear to the new environment, and most of all, lost of her mother.

I went to attend the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium in Kota Kinabalu from Jan 8th to the 11th. During the three days of absence at BSBCC, I called Wai Pak on the daily basis to keep the latest update about Debbie. Because of her shyness and stress, her appetite was not as good as the rest of the rescued sun bears in the centre. Nonetheless, despite of her lack of interest to eat, she defecated normally. Normal defecation is a sign of good health – eat well, no gastrointestinal infection, and illness. Wai Pak told me that she was sleeping, more like hiding to be accurate, either in the basket or on the tree branch in her den most of the time. When the keeper and volunteers were around to clean the cage, she felt very uncomfortable, stressed, and came down to the ground and started pacing. Pacing is the most common behavior that sun bears do when they are under stress, and feel unsafe or threaten in captivity. She would bark at the keeper if they come too close from where she was. One other thing that Wai Pak told me was her eyes looked so sad. Both Wai Pak and me know what “sad eyes” mean to us after both of us taking care of many orphan sun bear cubs. They missed their mother very much, just like all of us do when we lost our mom or love ones. (sob)

I went back to BSBCC on the evening of 11th, day before yesterday, and saw what Wai Pak told me on the phone. Debbie was a sad orphan baby bear cub for an obvious reason. Yesterday I decided to spend some time with her. I want to teach her not to fear the new environment at BSBCC. I want her to gain trust on me and our keepers so that she feel safe and protected under our care and our presence, just like Fulung and Mary. I used a method, the only method that I used over the years to calm down a wild angry sun bear in a bear trap – honey!

Debbie responded to honey really well. Her love of honey is typical of how much sun bear resemble Winnie the Pooh bear. In fact, the Malay name of sun bear is Berung Madu, the honey bear. I first used a pole with smear of honey at one end so that the honey can reached her in her basket. She like it and licked it. I repeated this for few time. When she climbed down on the ground, I gave her the honey from the bottle at the same time calling her “Debbie Debbie my girl”. After few sessions of honey exercise, I finally can called her down from her resting basket and she would licked the honey from the honey bottle and from my hand for the first time.

Today I did several sessions of calling and honey feeding. She responded really well. She moved more in her den to explore the new environment and chewed some decayed woods that we gave her. I can tell that she is much more comfortable today than yesterday. She can licked the honey from my hand without hesitation and I keep my all of my fingers and hand intact at the end of the day!   

P/S: The two photos of Debbie was added on Jan 14th. Today she let me touch her little hairy hand!

Is a female sun bear cub! After 7 hours on the road from Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Kota Kinabalu, the Sabah Wildlife Department's Wildlife Rescue Unit finally arrived BSBCC with this rescued sun bear cub.

While the holiday mood for the New Year remaining strong, Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit already underway their new rescue mission of a sun bear cub on Jan 6th. The sun bear cub was sent to Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre the following day after a preliminary health check at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park near the state capital Kota Kinabalu. What would be a better way to the start the new year than rescuing a poor sun bear cub from imprisonment in a small metal cage?

Wildlife Rescue Unit carried Debbie in her transpotation cage to the bear house.

We have not yet fully understood the story of this latest new female sun bear cub. We name her Debbie. Debbie is about 6-8 months old base on her size. From her documentation that we received from Sabah Wildlife Department, she was purchased by a Chinese guy from Tuaran and was surrendered to the Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit. We need to do find out the whole story of Debbie soon.

We name this new arrival sun bear cub Debbie. She explored her new home at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre after being released from the transportation cage.

After a long 7 hours on the road from Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, the Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit finally arrived at BSBCC with Debbie at 6:30 pm. Unlike other sun bear cub we rescued in the past, Debbie was an aggressive sun bear cub. She was barking at everyone when we tried to carry her in the transportation cage to her new home. This aggressiveness can only mean two things: she was wild caught and being in captivity for relatively short period, and the new environment and new people she encountered was very stressful on her. Debbie was one of very few sun bear cub that I did not dare to let her suckle my finger (as finger sucking calm down a stressful sun bear cub).     

Debbie has a very special chest patch. Take a look. How do you describe the pattern?

Nonetheless she immediately explored her new den with many climbing structures right after she was released from her transportation cage into her den. Her movement was agile and energetic. This was a good sign for healthy and strong. She had a very special chest marking. A friend in facebook said at the first glance it looked like a “Y.” Second it looked like a rooster standing and finally it looked like smoke coming out of a potion bottle! We gave her some electrolyte water to overcome her dehydration during the journey and she drunk it all in one go. She did not eat the food that we gave her probably due to the stressful journey and new environment.

We estimated her age between 6-8 months. She already has a relatively long claws, which give hint to her age. We need to check her teeth to verify her age.

Dear little Debbie, we are glad that Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit managed to rescued you and sent you to BSBCC to take care of you. However, we certainly understand that you have been through a tragic early start and all the bad things that human did to you and your mother. Here in Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, our mission is to conserve sun bear through improving animal welfare, raising conservation awareness with education, conducting research, and rehabilitating the sun bear cubs like you who have the chance to return your life in the forest! Little Debbie, we will do our very best to take good care of you!

Debbie is unlike other sun bear cub we rescued. She is aggressive and barked at use when we get close to her. She found a spot on a new home and settled down.

Her first intakes of electrolyte drink in her new home to overcome some dehydration during the journey.