http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/22/two-rare-malayan-sun-bears-found-in-abandoned-cambodian-garment-factory/

By Agence France-Presse
Friday, February 22, 2013 9:15 EST

Text and photos by Siew Te Wong

BSBCC recently received a new rescued pet sun bear cub. Kept in a small cage, this poor bear was first seen by a friend of BSBCC in a remote village call Bongkud near Poring Hot Spring in Ranau Township, central Sabah. He then reported the incident to BSBCC and we filed a report to Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD). A rescue operation was conducted by the Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit on June 7th.

We name this female cub “Bongkud,” after the name of the village where she was rescued. It was already nightfall on June 19th when Bongkud arrived at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. Weighing about 12 kg and with milk teeth attached, we estimated Bongkud about 10 months old. Unlike other sun bears, the coat of Bongkud looks rather dried, meager, and yellowish. I suspected she is suffering from malnutrition, a common problem that we experience from captive sun bear cubs. Her body has few patches of old scars that could resulted from unknown wounds and rubbing against small cages.

Bongkud is tame and did not show any sign of aggression since she arrived at the centre. Her mellow behavior could mean one thing- she was captured from the wild at a very young age. We still have not received her full report about the confiscation and information about the previous owner so we have no way to tell about her history. We placed her in a temporary cage. A full medical examination and health check will be carried out soon by the SWD’s veterinarian to check for potential illness and assess general health.

The number of rescued sun bear currently house at BSBCC is now reached 27 bears with the arrival of Bongkud. We hope we could provide a good and safe halfway house for her at the same time plans for reintroduction is underway. The task is never easy since the first day we started the project. However, with your help and support, we are determine to give these rescued sun bears a better home!  

Bongkud's fur appear to be quit yellow and less black Bongkud is curios on the tired that we give her as toy in her cage.

 

Bongkud is curios on the tired that we give her as toy in her cage.

Text by Tee Thye Lim

“Friend” is the people who play an important role in our human daily life. They may be able to be our supporter, person who assists you, giving you a positive effect and sharing most of their life experience with you.

Same as what have happened at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) on 4th May 2012 evening, we received a sun bear from Penampang, named Ah Bui, which means “friend” in local Murut language.

Ah Bui, the latest rescued sun bear at BSBCC

Ah Bui is a female sub-adult sun bear about two year old. She was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department’s (SWD) Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU) on May 2nd in a housing area at Penampang near Kota Kinabalu. The owner claimed that the bear was obtained from Sook at Keningau area.

Ah Bui arrived at our centre on the evening of May 4th.

Staffs from BSBCC and Sabah Wildlife Department moved Ah Bui to her new environment!

He is believed to look for a potential buyer of the bear as local market for bear parts still exist. Luckily the SWD’s officer managed to discover and rescued Ah Bui before she end up in cooking pot or as traditional medicine.

Ah Bui means "friend" in local Murut language

Ah Bui is still trying to settle down and adapt slowly to our center environment.
We hope she will get use her new home and make some new “Ah Bui” as well.

So, would you like to be Ah Bui’s Ah Bui?

Handing over official documents from Sabah Wildlife Department to BSBCC

Join us at
http://www.causes.com/causes/95651-bornean-sun-bear-conservation-centre for getting update with our bears at BSBCC!

Text and photos by Siew Te Wong

On the night of Feb 20th, BSBCC received another new rescued sun bear from the Sabah Wildlife Department Wildlife Rescue Unit. This female sun bear yearling (1-2 year old bear), that we named “Koko” is the latest rescued sun bear by Sabah Wildlife Department and sent to BSBCC.

Koko appeared to be healthy and in good body condition. She was calmed on the night she arrived at the centre. We place her at a temporary cage for the time being until her new den is ready in few days. The next day after recovering from the stress associated from the transportation, Koko seems to be a bit feisty when I approached her. However, she got a good appetite and took all the food we gave her.

I called the Koko’s owner Robert from Telipok this morning to understand more about the story behind Koko. Apparently Koko was captured by a hunter (poacher) originally from Keningau on a hunting (poaching) trip early last year. Koko’s mother probably being killed by the poacher and Koko was kept as pet at the same time looking for a potential buyer. This is a typical story of almost all rescued sun bear in BSBCC. Robert heard from his friend about a sun bear cub for sale. He paid RM350 for Koko and realized that she is no longer a small, cute cub. He later seeks advice from his friend who works with the Sabah Wildlife Department. The wildlife department staff convinced him to surrender Koko to the Sabah Wildlife Department. They sent Koko to SWD’s Lok Kawi Zoo last weekend and the zoo sent her to us on Monday night.

With 25 rescued sun bears under the care of BSBCC, the urgency of building another new bear house is escalating. At the moment our capacity is only for 20 sun bears. This is the 2nd sun bear cubs we received in approximately one month time and we do not know how many sun bear will be rescued and be sent to BSBCC in the near future. We can only be glad that we are here to help these animals and never happy to see they end up at BSBCC. We have to stop all illegal activities such as poaching, killing, eating, and keeping sun bears. Please help BSBCC to achieve these goals.

Read more on how you can help us and the sun bears:

 http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/how-can-you-help-sun-bears/

Koko in her transportation cage. After a 7 hour trip from Lok Kawi Zoo, she finally arrived at BSBCC at 8:30 pm on Monday night.

We placed her at a temporary cage for few more days as we prepare for her new home. She needs to be quarantined for 30 days before she can have any contact with other bears in the centre.

Wa i Pak gave her some electrolyte drinks to boost her water loss during the journey.

I thought she was a small cub but she is already a yearling, maybe weigh 20 kg, in good condition.

She is surprising tame and calmed for the stressful event. I was stressed out when was informed we have another bear coming our way because we are full! We need a second bear house urgently.

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.

Text by Wong Siew Te

The magnificent yet unfortunate Sunda clouded leopard mentioned in earlier blog was not unique. Others, many others in fact, wildlife in this part of the world also faced similar fate. Few years ago a friend of mine from Sarawak sent me similar photos- photos of a decapitated sun bear taken in Sarawak. I have seen many photos of dead animals, witnessed many dead animals with my own eyes and I personally dissected many dead animals. In theory I should be able to take it but at that time I can’t. The photos of this decapitated sun bear were so powerful that I nearly cannot take it.

Few years ago I visited an Iban village in central Sarawak. I was lucky to be able to follow a local hunter on his hunting trip. During the few kilometers walk in the forest, the hunter showed me several dozens of snares he set to catch wildlife. Although the target animals were bearded pigs, he proudly told me that everything else that walked in the forest such as pheasants, mouse deer, pangolins, sun bears, were once common wildlife captured by the snares until recently. He emphasized “until recently” because he sensed a sharp decline of local wildlife population in the forest. For example sambar deer was almost locally extinct in the forest. Ironically, the once abundant bearded pigs also became rare now a day. Bearded pigs were by far the most important game animals that contributed the majority of their protein source. Yet, under years of over harvesting and exacerbated by unsustainable logging and habitat degradation, bearded pig populations in many areas have declined significantly. When bearded pigs became rare, the hunting pressure has shifted to other species such as sambar deer, 2 species of barking deer and mouse deer, pangolin, and others, sun bear included. We walk passed a snare where the hunter proudly pointed out that he caught a female sun bear just few days ago. He tried to kill the bear but the bear managed to escape from the snare when fighting for her own life. The female’s cub was sent to a tree by the mother (mother bears often sent their cubs to hide in tree to escape from danger) but unfortunately the cub climb a small tree where it cannot really conceal itself. The cub was shot dead by the hunter, eaten, and its little gallbladder was sent to the closest town to sell for a few hundred ringgits. I asked if he can show me the skull of the bear cub. “The dog cleaned it all up” I was told. That day we arrived at a pig wallow that seems inactive for a while. He pointed out all of the snares that he set around the wallow to catch animals that come to drink water or to wallow. I was speechless when he pointed to the 8th.        

Snare set on animal trail to catch willdife in the forest.

It is truly sad to see this decapitated sun bear and the decapitated clouded leopard. Although both of the two mammal species are totally protected by wildlife protection law in the country, the lack of interest, capacity, and ability to enforce the wildlife laws by the government authority make these laws like never exist. Paper laws so to speak. During my visit to Sarawak I also witness an interesting scene: few billboards erected to educate the public not to kill and to eat game meat. One of them showed all the protected species in Sarawak. The other one was a warning on consuming wild meat. The wording in three languages read:

“WILD MEAT

Under the Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, it is an offence to “buy or sell or offer for sale or claim ro be offering for sale, any wild mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian, or any recognizable part or derivative thereof” if that animal has been taken from the wild. This means that all sale of wild boar, deer meat, pigeons, terrapins, frogs or any other meat taken from the wild is an offence.   

The penalty to sell or offer for sale or claim to be offering for sale, any wild mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian, or any recognizable part or derivative thereof for this offence is a fine of RM5,000.

It is also an offence to buy any items, and the penalty for doing so is a fine of RM2000.

Offenders may be charged in Court”

Signboard of protected wildlife in Sarawak

Obviously these billboards send a good message to educate the public not to be an offender of wildlife laws or you will be punish, may be, according to the message. However, what make this scene interesting and ironic at the same time was that they were erected in front of a row of shops and small businesses. Among these shops were two restaurants that were well known to the locals for selling wild meat. In the forest one could argue that the lack of enforcement is probably due to the lack of interest to enforce wildlife laws as well as lacking resources – human resource, to enforce the law. But in this case the police station and the forestry department office were all nearby in town, it is nothing but lack of interest to enforce the wildlife laws. Police and enforcement agencies all prefer an “easy life.” If they can work “less,” they would and love to work less!

Under this attitude, wildlife suffered. Clouded leopard, sun bear, and other wildlife suffered and being decapitated and eaten until they are locally extinct. When they are locally extinct, two phenomena may happen: the price of that particular species raise and poachers has to go further in the remote forest to hunt or other less preferred species are now becoming a target species. Across the world there were many examples showing these two situations.

In the case of decapitated sun bear and clouded leopard, obviously the authority has failed us. They were paid and hired to protect the country’s wildlife yet they failed. Mohandas Gandhi once said, “When the people lead, the leader will follow.” I think it is time for all of us to lead, to act, and to protect our wildlife. We have to realize that we all have the responsibility to ensure their survival and the power to protect them. We can report to the local authorities, conservation NGOs who act like watch dogs with teeth for the authority, or even the local press on the unlawful activities of killing and harming wildlife. We can act to support and help spread the words for organizations that aim to protect wildlife like BSBCC or other wildlife rescue centre so that they can do their work to rescue wildlife. There a lot we can do to help these animals that share the same planet Earth with us. Like I always said, do what you do best to help sun bears and other wildlife. Together we CAN, we DO, and we WILL make a difference!

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100752008/National-news/rare-cub-rescued-from-soldier.html

After a “tense” meeting with a military commander on Wednesday, an endangered sun bear cub was rescued from a military base in Preah Vihear province before it could be sold for an estimated US$1,000.

The 10-kilogram cub was found at a base near Preah Vihear temple in Choam Khsan district, in the possession of a soldier who was trying to sell it, likely to a bear farm in Vietnam.

A sun bear cub rescued from a military base in Preah Vihear province on Wednesday was likely destined for a bear farm in Vietnam, according to Wildlife Alliance

Wildlife Alliance worked with Forestry Administration officials to gain access to the military base after receiving information that a captive bear cub was for sale.

Forestry officials and members of the team “first went to speak to the regional military commander, who then aided the team in raising awareness about the law [among soldiers”, said program manager at Wildlife Alliance Lesley Perlman yesterday.

Wildlife Alliance described the meeting with the unnamed military commander as “tense”, but said that following the meeting the commander helped raise awareness of laws governing endangered species among solidiers.

“As the soldier voluntarily handed over the bear, no charges were filed,” Perlman said.

The bear is being transferred to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre and Perlman said greater effort was needed in Cambodia and regionally to protect endangered species.

“In Cambodia, stronger law enforcement is needed to combat the illegal trade in wildlife on the ground,” she said. Regionally, “both demand and supply side efforts are needed”, she said.

Sun bears are sold as pets or used in Chinese traditional medicine, which highly values their paws and gall bladder bile.

A rapid response team working in Cambodia confiscates about 10 live Malayan sun and Asiatic Black bears a year, Perlman said

Original posted at http://sandakantours.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_21.html

Text by Jasmine Tan

Original posted at http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20110927-301721.html

By T.N. Alagesh
New Straits Times
Tuesday, Sep 27, 2011

TEMERLOH – A private animal park in Lanchang here has been suffering losses because its main attraction — three Malayan sun-bears — were taken away by the state National Parks and Wildlife Department (Perhilitan) last week.

The animals, two males and one female, had been at the Deerland Park since it opened in 2004, luring hundreds of visitors every week.

Of the three bears, 13-year-old Muda had been drawing the largest crowd as it was very friendly and would allow visitors to rub his big belly while he enjoyed the milk and nuts offered to him.

However, the mini zoo was affected by the newly-implemented Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, which required private zoo owners who could not meet the specifications to surrender their endangered animals to the department.

Zoo owner Abdullah Ahmad Mahmood is upset with Perhilitan’s decision.

He told the New Straits Times yesterday that after the bears were taken away, the park had lost its appeal and suffered a drop in visitors as tour agents said the animals were the main attraction.

“Some tourists who visited the zoo claimed they had been cheated.

“Tourists claim that the brochures and the websites shown by the tour agents included feeding and taking pictures with Muda as part of the activities, but none of the bears are here.”

Abdullah said the mini zoo, which was just a stone’s throw from Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary near here, attracted some 70,000 visitors every year, including ministers and even members of the Pahang royal family.

The 4ha park at the edge of the Krau Forest Reserve was also home to several other animals, including a herd of deer — ranging from full-grown ones to fawns, an albino python and various birds, including peacocks and peahens.

State Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said only the Perhilitan Consultancy Division in the headquarters could comment on the matter.

However, when contacted, the Consultancy Division wanted a written list of questions.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g298291-d1235143-r94455369-Deerland_Park-Pahang.html

When our driver told us we’d be going to Deerland and that the main attraction was a ‘honey bear’ my partner and I had immediate doubts and pushed him to tell us more about how he is cared for and his living conditions. Our driver assured us it was fine and that we would not be seeing any mistreatment.

The second I saw the beer my heart broke. The owner was distracting him by feeding him sugar cookies and honey – even making him lie down and pouring honey on his belly to make him lick it. We were told to pat the bear and his coat was so sticky and the skin on his stomach, chest and underside of his legs was irritated and had clearly been untreated for a length of time.

We were then told that this bear needed a break. For the next half hour while we were at the zoo he was left in his pen in full sun with no water. He was pacing and clearly uncomfortable. He had no where to bathe and no ‘regular beer food’ to eat. The bear was so overweight I can’t help wondering if he has ever been fed food from his natural diet.

There was also female bear was in a tiny cage and also clearly distressed. According to the owner she is ‘aggressive’ so they don’t let her out.

What I saw is haunting me and will be reported to WSPA.

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• Visited October 2010

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