Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Text by Gloria Ganang

Raising environmental awareness to children through storytelling about animals. A brilliant approach for kids to understand about the importance of environmental protection. Joyce Malmo, author of this book volunteered in Borneo and went through tough experiences. This has changed her perspective about the world around her and she was inspired to share the amazing environmental stories to the children.

Teachers, guardians and parents out there, check out these amazing animals stories and share them to the children. It also features the story of one of our bears, Susie!

This book is currently for sale as an “eBook” as starter to generate enough fund to publish in paper format. Joyce is very kind to donate 10% of the sale to BSBCC for our education activities.

You can purchase this book online through this link:

http://www.story4environment.org/home/

Sneak peak on the story of Susie the sun bear featured in this book

By Wong Siew Te

Stuarts Point Pre School always has a special heart for sun bears ever since I was introduced to their director Erin Chapman last January by a close friend of Erin who visited BSBCC earlier and shared our stories. They would like to do more and to help sun bear. A Sun Bear Project has been initiated in the preschool. The project “hope to raise awareness of the tremendous efforts of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) and to make the little know Sun Bear famous in Stuarts Point and Scotts Head!!!” You can read more about Stuarts Point Pre School and their sun bear project here: http://enhancedlearningspps.blogspot.com.au/p/our-sun-bear-project.html

The very first sun bear project was to introduce the sun bears to the children:

Tuesday 29th January,

Today we introduced the little known Sun Bear to the children, we drew their attention to the Sun Bear’s special markings on their chest explaining how the markings look like a sun. We also told the children about the Sun Bear’s plight and of how the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Borneo helps rehabilitate rescued Sun Bear’s who were taken from their mummy’s and put in small cages. This part the children did not like so much and asked: “Why did they get taken?”

http://enhancedlearningspps.blogspot.com.au/p/our-sun-bear-project.html

Teaching the children to draw a sun bear is not as easy as its look!

Few days later:

“Thursday 31st January,

Today we continued exploring sun bears… We have found it difficult to get some children to relate to the sun bear… so today we tried sparking their interest by viewing images of sun bear teddy bears and then inviting the children to participate in a guided drawing experience…”

http://enhancedlearningspps.blogspot.com.au/p/our-sun-bear-project.html

On Thursday 21st February, the preschool did a “Sun Bear Fundraiser” by selling “Grub cakes” and “Ant slice”

http://enhancedlearningspps.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/sun-bear-fundraiser.html

With all the hard works from the teachers and children, they sold all of their cakes for the day and had a success fundraiser experience!

 On Monday 4 March. 2013, the children had a “skyping the sun bears” experience with me. After the children built and painted a sun bear rainforest habitat in the school, they managed to have a skype with me at the observation platform of BSBCC. The children got to see the sun bear “live” from BSBCC forest enclosure (although the bears were far from my laptop and the images of the bear appeared to be small). The children were excited to see me and the sun bears on their computer. I am having a lot of fun answering the questions that the children asked:

Charlotte: “Do the babies have big yellow marks on their chest too?”
Aiken: “Do Sun Bears build tree houses?”
Matilda: “Do the Sun Bears bite?”
Malu: “Do they have spikey hair”
Asher: “Why do the Sun Bears get locked in cages?”

……

Using my laptop and my 3G connection for internet, I managed to skype the children from Australia!

Answering questions from kids is always fun

The images and voices from the sun bears were spread across the world through skype. Thanks to the technology, additional group of children know more about sun bear and their plights.  They will grow up knowing more about the sun bears and the conservation issues about the rainforest of SE Asia.

We hope we could do this skype call more often with each other.

I hope other school across the world can also “visit” us, “see” the sun bears “digitally” at BSBCC and learn more about the sun bear.  Even better, visit us “physically” next year when we officially open to the public!

Slowly but surely, sun bear the little known bear in the world will become a well known bear!

Text by Gloria Ganang & photo by Tee Thye Lim

The kids from the ISS International School have selected the BSBCC as one of their destinations for their Borneo trip. Thanks to APE Malaysia, we managed to team up and get these kids to learn about the importance of enrichment for sun bears in captivity.  A total of 29 13-14 year old kids involved and they were accompanied by their 4 teachers.

It all started with an introduction talk about sun bears and the BSBCC.

Introducing the BSBCC

Then the students were brought to the platform and the bear house to do a pre enrichment observation on the bears. In other words is they get to see how the bears behave without any enrichment given.

Then, the fun part! ENRICHMENT MAKING!!

Materials for making enrichment

The kids were briefed about “safe enrichment for sun bears” by Thye Lim

Eliminating plastic tapes from the cardboards

Staples aren’t safe for the bears

The bears would love these in their enrichment

“What should be made out of these egg trays?”

Using ropes made of natural fiber to tye up enrichments

Spreading bits of herbs and spices on a ginger leaf

Everyone is so focused

Looking good!

Everybody managed to complete their enrichment in 20 minutes (thats fast!). They did a very good job in creating them using the provided materials (cardboard, egg trays, various kinds of herbs & spices, beans, ginger leaves, hessian sack etc).

The bears could smell their “toys” from afar as the kids were bringing them closer. They were curious and couldn’t wait to check out whats coming ahead. Everything was quickly ripped apart, however the bears continued to check out every remain pieces until the end of the day. Not forgetting the macaques that shares the forest enclosure, they got entertained by the enrichment as well.

It was another interesting day for the bears at the BSBCC as these enrichment were different from the daily enrichment provided by the BSBCC staff. Thanks to the ISS kids, you all definitely made a difference.

Not forgetting your kind donations to the centre, we really appreciate them!

ISS kids presenting their donations to BSBCC

Text by Gloria Ganang & photo by Dawn Serene Tukalan

It has been a rainy weather in Sandakan these few days. However it was lucky for the kids from the Sandakan Tzu Chi Buddhist Merit Society that they get to spend a sunny day doing fun activities at the BSBCC yesterday (9th Dec 2012). They arrived at 8.20 in the morning all excited and ready to see the sun bears. The kids stood in 4 lines according to their groups when we met them at the Seplilok car park.

Greetings from BSBCC

Introducing “uncle Wong”!

The kids were then divided into 2 groups before we guided them towards the BSBCC platform. Along the way, they were also thought about the importance of  the environment and a little appreciation and practice in reusing materials, such as the “Organic Bridge” which was built out of reclaimed Belian wood a.k.a. Bornean ironwood.

“You’re standing on an organic bridge!”

As we reached the platform, everyone was running everywhere, excited to meet the bears at their enclosure. They were welcomed by one of our bears, Kuamut resting on a log in the enclosure.

Say hi to Kuamut!

For most of the kids, it was their first time seeing a sun bear! Lucky for them that their first sight of a sun bear is in a natural forest and in good condition. Although these bears have unfortunate histories, but they  knew that they will have a much better future.

Next, it is time for  sun bear story with Wai Pak.

The types of bears of the world

Sun bears are meat eaters!

Paying attention to the sun bear story

Later, the kids for told to make “toys” for the sun bears. We had used cardboard, ginger leaves, peanut butter, honey and many kinds of local spices for the kids to spread on their handmade “toys”. This is to encourage the bears to tear the cardboard into pieces to get a taste of the ingredients .

A brief instructions on the process and procedure of
making “toys” for the sun bears.

She definitely wants to create the best toy for the bears!

This place has turned into a toy factory!

The end product!

Well done guys! these are amazing!

After the toy making activity, it was the end of their programme. Before they left, we took the opportunity to thank them for visiting us and made some enrichment for the bears to play with.

Thanks everybody! We’ll see you again next time!

Text and photo by Tee Thye Lim

“Is the Koala a bear species?”
Asked our Project Manager, Wai Pak to the primary school students of SK. St. Gabriel who visited our centre on the 23 Oct 2012.

Wai Pak giving a short briefing to the SK St. Gabriel students
before they were brought in for a tour at BSBCC.

“Yes, because it looks like a bear!”
A little girl raised up her hand and answered.

“No! Koala is not a bear!”
A little boy refuted from the opposite side. The argument continued for about 3 minutes until Wai Pak announced the answer.

“No, Koala is not a bear species, it is a type of the Marsupial, same family with the kangaroos” said Wai Pak.

The different facial expressions of the students after learning
that the Koala is not a bear

Most of the kids have an idea of a sun bear. They’ve  seen it on TV programmes, perhaps on the internet, however not in a natural environment.

Some of them also mentioned about the local TV programme, TV3 which aired  a documentary about BSBCC last week end: <Sunshine in Sepilok: Tales of the Bornean Sun Bears>

Later, knowing that they were about to see real, life Bornean sun bears, the smallest among the smallest of the bears in the world, the kids couldn’t wait.

The young generations’ curiosity of the nature is always the
best inspiration of mother Earth conservation

The SK St. Gabriel students at first did not see the Sun Bears roaming at the visible spot.

Fortunately, they were able to join the  second group of visitors on that day which was the students of the American International School of Hong Kong, guided by the Animal Projects & Environmental Education (APE) Malaysia team.

This time everyone was able to spot the sun bears. More excitingly, sun bears climbing the trees!

The American International School of Hong Kong group were then invited to watch the BSBCC documentary  <Big Dream Little Bears>.

Wai Pak giving a short introduction about the documentary

At the end of the visit, SK. St. Gabriel presented a drawing to BSBCC. It was inspiring! Thank you so much!

Wai Pak (left) and Wong (centre) receiving the drawing
from SK St. Gabriel

Also, many thanks to APE Malaysia team for your donations! Not forgetting the hessian sacks you brought us. The bears will definitely love rubbing themselves on them!

Lastly and most importantly, thank you for sparing time and efforts to visit our Centre. It was such a great opportunity for us to share the needs of this small small bear species!

Representative of the American International School group (right) handing over donation to BSBCC, represented by Wai Pak (left)

Thank you  SK. St. Gabriel!
Thank you APE Malaysia and American International School of Hong Kong!

We hope to see you again!

By Wong Siew Te

Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) was first discovered in Malay Peninsula and described to science by American naturalist in 1825. Ironically, after 187 year, many Malaysians, along with most people in the world, do not know about this world’s smallest bear species. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the lack of education materials on sun bear in the school’s curriculum in this country. However, this phenomenon is about to change.

Penerbitan Pelangi Sdn Bhd (Pelangi Publisher Ltd. Co.) (www.pelangibooks.com) is determined to help BSBCC and to raise awareness of sun bear and BSBCC among the secondary schools students in Malaysia. The publishing company is producing 300,000 copies of science reference books for Malaysian schools  with BSBCC’s logo and website printed on the book’s cover. In addition, Pelangi Publisher also donated RM10,000 to support BSBCC as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project. Soon, more and more Malaysian students will learn and know more about sun bears and the important roles that they play in the forest ecosystem.

BSBCC would like to thank Penerbitan Pelangi Sdn Bhd for their generous support and their initiative to help educate students about sun bears. We hope this CSR project will catalyze more corporations to play their parts to protect sun bears in this region and support BSBCC in the future!  

If you miss Wong’s talk at TEDxKL 2012, here is the chance to view it youtube:

Please remember to share it! Together we can make sun bear become the most well known bear!

 A huge success for the TV program Sinar di Sepilok: Kisah Beruang Matahari Borneo (Sunshine in Sepilok: Tales of the Bornean Sun Bears) broadcasted last weekend October 13th at Malaysian TV Channel TV3. The one hour program was produced, directed, and narrated by TV3′s journalist Irin Putri in her Majalah 3 (Magazine 3) documentary. The program has been overwhelmed by the general Malaysian viewers. To most of the viewers, this was the first time that they know about sun bears and the work we do at BSBCC. According to TV3′s survey, at least 1.8 million viewers have watched this program on prime time last Saturday.

If you miss the show or if you from oversea, you now can watch the program online at:

http://www.tonton.com.my/#/home/channels/TV3/majalah_3_2012_ce9c4124b4554598b78d9fd400f17cbf/episode_40_2aae558f9ac44022a4b49fd400f185d2

Just register with tonton.com.my and you will have access to view it online.

Enjoy the show!

One additional notes: Irin first contacted me on July 2010 about her interest to do a program on sun bear. This is what Irin wrote more than 3 years ago:

From: Irin Putri Azmi
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 11:01 AM
To: wongsiew@hotmail.com
Subject: TV3 Majalah 3 On Sun Bears

Mr. Siew,

 I’m with TV3′s magazine-documentary programme called Majalah 3. I’ve been interested to do a special feature about you and the sun bears for a while now. I would like to know if you’re interested to be featured.

 As the very few sun bear experts in Malaysia, I believe you are the best person to convey the message about sun bears and their conservations efforts to the local audience.

I look forward for your reply. You may contact me at 012-xxx xxxx for further information.

Regards,

Irin Putri Azmi

Executive Broadcast Journalist

Primeworks Studios

=======================================================================

Wow! I did not realize that it has been 3 years. Thank you Irin for your persistency to make this TV program a reality. Along with millions of viewers, I would like to thank you and TV3 for helping us to spread the words and make sun bear no longer a forgotten bear!

Text by Gloria Ganang and photo by Tee Thye Lim

The BSBCC team was expecting a visit from the local primary school, SRK (C) Chi Hwa, Sandakan on the 16th October 2012. A total of 236 standard 6 (12 year olds) pupils came to the Centre on that day . They were accompanied by 17  dedicated teachers and their headmistress, Mdm Ooi Mee Har.

Yes, it was a big number! In fact the biggest number of visitors we had so far coming in one day. They all did not come at one time. Instead, the pupils were separated into 7 groups and 1 group came at one time.

Arrival of the pupils

Welcoming the pupils to the Centre

The first group arrived at 9.30 am. Not having much idea of what to expect, all were excited when they were told that they were about to see the smallest bear in the world! It was amazing how silent they were along their way to the platform. Perhaps their teachers have taught them well of how to respect and appreciate nature. We were so impressed.

As soon as they reached the platform, all spread around and took their best place to look for the sun bears hiding in the forest enclosure. Some groups were lucky and saw the interesting behavior of the  sun bears climbing up the trees.  The BSBCC team took this opportunity to share about the sad stories of why the bears are currently at the Centre.

Explaining about sun bear behavior at the observation platform

How much do you think the chain weigh?

Showing the actual chain that used to be worn by one of
the bears when she was kept as a pet

The visit ended at 3.00 pm. I think the team did a wonderful job. Now an additional 253 people know about the sun bears! Special thanks to Madam Ooi and her team of teachers who had made all this possible!

Text & photo by Gloria Ganang

It was such a precious and meaningful weekend for two of the BSBCC team members, Wai Pak and myself  where we traveled to different towns of Sabah to be part of two outstanding events, the Animal Welfare Awareness Concert and the Borneo Bird Festival 2012.

The Animal Welfare Awareness Concert was held on the 5^th October 2012 at the KDCA Hall, Penampang, Kota Kinabalu. The concert started at 7.30pm. However there was an exhibition session earlier that day which started at 2.30 pm. The exhibition was attended by groups of students from the local schools and of course animal lovers from across the state. This was a great opportunity to encourage the public to love the sun bears as well!

Setting up our booth

Wai Pak explaining the works of BSBCC to the VIP visitors

Local school students so much interested to know about the sun bears

Introducing the sun bears to the public

The cuteness of a sun bear cub always getting the public’s attention

The Borneo Bird Festival was held on the 5^th – 7^th October 2012 at the world famous Kinabalu Park. Apart from the spectacular scenery, the different birds occurring at the high elevation makes it a perfect spot for bird watching competitions. How did it go for the BSBCC booth? I could say we had a big hit!

Promoting sun bears to the important target group

More and more visitors

Yes, the kids need to learn about sun bears as well

Appreciation from the organizer

It was an overwhelming experience to see a lot of our local people have not yet heard or knew of the sun bears and that these bears exist in our forest! We made the visitors guess the name of the animals in the pictures showing a sun bear cub. The answers varied. “Panda!”, “Beruang kucing (meaning Cat Bear in Malay)!”,”Puppy”, or simply “a bear?”. “Panda” was the most common answer and people RARELY answered the sun bear! People who knew about the sun bears mostly are those who’ve heard of the worthiness of its bile or paws when sold or traded. Perhaps not many knew of their shrinking habitat, their reducing numbers or the penalties of keeping them as pets. Therefore, the BSBCC is glad that we are at both events to promote the word of this “forgotten” species. Special thanks to Valiant Events & Entertainment and the Borneo Bird Festival 2012 organizing committees for working so hard and made these awesome events successful. You guys rock!

Wai Pak and Rasmir Rashid, organizer of the World Animal
Welfare Awareness Concert