3/19/11

A song that is “Calling on you!” – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

A song that is “Calling on you!” – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Amir Yussof, a big fan and good friend of Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre wrote a song from the sun bear point of view : “Calling On You!”

Thanks Amir and your friends for singing this song to rimind us that we need sun bears and all other wildlife in the forest for a better tomorrow!

Please click here for “Calling on you!”:

http://www.amiryussof.com/Video.html#4

BSBCC store open at http://www.zazzle.com/ – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

BSBCC store open at http://www.zazzle.com/ – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

BSBCC store open at http://www.zazzle.com/

Please visit and shop for your favorite sun bear gifts at http://www.zazzle.com/theborneansunbear/gifts.

75% of the profit made will go to helping those sun bears at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. Thank you Abel from zazzle.com and Carol for your help to make this store possible!

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New video of Natalie the sun bear cub is available on youtube – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

New video of Natalie the sun bear cub is available on youtube – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

New video of Natalie the sun bear cub is available on youtube

Please view BSBCC’s new video of Natalie the sun bear cub digging and excavating decayed wood!

Please help us spread the words about this video.

The Next Generation of Sun Bear Researchers – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

The Next Generation of Sun Bear Researchers – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

The Next Generation of Sun Bear Researchers

Five days after I returned to the BSBCC at Sandakan, I was on the move again. This time, my mission was to visit Cheryl Cheah, a Malaysian doctorate student from the University Putra Malaysia (UPM), who is studying wild sun bear ecology at the Krau Wildlife Reserve, Pahang State, West Malaysia.

I first met Cheryl in 2008 when I was invited to the UPM to give a talk on my work on sun bears. Professor Dr. Reuben Sharma, Cheryl’s advisor at that time, was starting an ambitious research project with his students on the various aspects of the sun bears’ ecology, genetics, and occupancy. These students visited us at BSBCC in April 2009 to learn more about the sun bears and sun bear research. Cheryl’s study is focusing on the home range, habitat use, and activity patterns of the wild sun bears in this forest reserve.

Studying the wild sun bears comes with challenges and obstacles. Since 1998, I have gathered many facts, information, and developed methods to study wild sun bears from trial and error (so to speak, the “hard way”). This is probably due to the difficulties (or lack of interest, I wonder) that there has been no other researchers studying sun bears in Malaysia besides me. Knowing Cheryl and her colleagues have the interest and taking the challenge to study sun bears was truly good news for the species. We are desperate to understand and know more about our own bear species in order to use the scientific information gathered from these research projects for wildlife management and conservation actions. Therefore, passing on the knowledge to the younger generation of sun bear researchers is critical so that they do not have to “learn it from the hard way.” This was the main goal of my trip to the Krau Wildlife Reserve.

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Situated in the Pahang state, central Peninsular Malaysia, the Krau Wildlife Reserve is about 602 km of almost primary forest. The reserve is an island reserve with no connectivity with the massive Titiwangsa Main Range where tigers and Asian elephants are found. However, many large mammals such as Malayan tapirs, gaurs (impressive-looking forest cattle), sun bears, leopards, and many other wildlife species are still found within the reserve. The forest reserve is surrounded by orang asli (Aborigines) villages, plantations (mostly oil palm and rubber), and roads.

Cheryl's orang asli assistant, Pendek (mean "short" in Malay), walking barefoot in the forest. Orang asli or the aborigine people are skillful forest dwellers and hunters in this forest.

Cheryl's orang asli assistant, Pendek (mean "short" in Malay), walking barefoot in the forest. Orang asli or the aborigine people are skillful forest dwellers and hunters in this forest.

It was really good to be back doing field work in the rainforest again after spending 2.5 years in the United States where I did not sweat as much due to the mild American weather. The humid and warm climate here, accompanied with numerous blood-sucking leeches and mosquitoes, are a few things everyone who works in the rainforest including myself, must endure. Cheryl obviously passed this first test by working in this forest for almost a year. After 3 months of trapping with barrel and culver traps, she finally caught the first wild sun bear on January 25th. This bear was an adult male, weighing a solid 80-kg. She named him “Sato” – meaning “gift from God” in the Ethiopian language. Sato was fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS) collar that collects location information every 6 hours from the GPS satellites. His radio-collar also emit VHF signals, which can be pick up by a receiver and location of the bear can be determined from “triangulation” method.

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On this morning, the first thing we did in the forest was trying to pick up the VHF signals from Sato, but we had no luck from doing so. Instead, Cheryl’s orang asli field assistant called (Cheryl’s study area has cell phone signals coverage so they use cell phone to communicate – how nice!) to inform us that one of the traps caught a bear! We then quickly rushed to the site of the trap. Apparently, this bear was trapped in another smaller barrel trap about 20 m away a few hours earlier but the bear “chewed” through the trap, escaped, and entered the second trap and caught in the second bigger and stronger trap. Cheryl later went back to her field house to pick up a radio-collar and handling equipment. At the same time, we informed the veterinarian from the Wildlife Department and Dr. Sharma to sedate the bear. The two orang asli field assistants then went to check the other traps that had yet to be checked, while I stayed at the trap site to “look after” the bear that was in the trap. About 30 minutes later, one of the field assistant rushed back with another surprise: another bear was caught in another trap, BUT the bear was in the attempt of chewing through the trap and trying to get out! We quickly rushed to the second trap site. We were too late, however, and the bear already chewed a big hole on the metal trap and escaped!

The escaped bear then entered another trap nearby and get caught again in this stronger and bigger trap.

The escaped bear then entered another trap nearby and get caught again in this stronger and bigger trap.

A few hours later, the vet from the Wildlife Department and Dr. Sharma arrived at the study area. They sedated the bear without complication. This bear was a big male bear, tipped the scale at 77 kg!

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The handling team: (from left to right): Cheryl, me, Prof Sharma, Dr (Wildlife Department Vet) and two orang asli field assistants.

The handling team (from left to right): Cheryl, me, Prof Sharma, Dr Firdaus Razak (Vet from Wildlife Department), and two orang asli field assistants.

The handling and radio-collaring of the bear went well. After the hour-and-a-half handling procedure (fitting radio-collar, taking measurement, collecting parasite and blood samples, and treating a trap wound), the bear was left in the trap to recover from sedation. That marked the end of our first day in the field.

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Over the next two days, Cheryl and I were practicing a lot of radio-telemetry techniques and trying to locate the two radio-collared bears. We hiked up to a few hills with higher elevation, hoping to have a better reception of Sato’s signals. We had no luck locating him. We could locate the second collared bear easily, however, which has yet to be named, as he was wandering near the trap site.

Keep up the good work, Cheryl! This project is the first of its kind to study sun bears in the Peninsular Malaysia. The data collected in this study is crucial for the understanding of the species, especially on how sun bears use the modified landscape of forested area adjacent to oil palm plantation. In addition, the high poaching/snaring rate in this protected forest raises a serious threat, not only to the local sun bear population, but also to the other important wildlife in this wildlife reserve as well. I sincerely hope the Wildlife Department can do something effective to eliminate illegal hunting and poaching activities in this forest.

A Wandering Naturalist: Sabah: A Sanctuary for Sun Bears

A Wandering Naturalist: Sabah: A Sanctuary for Sun Bears

by Ronald Orenstein, A wonderfing Naturalist

Original blog posted at Ronald’s blog : http://ronorenstein.blogspot.com/2010/12/sabah-sanctuary-for-sun-bears.html

This entry is in the nature of a commercial. I have spent the bulk of my professional life trying to do something — usually by lobbying at International meetings — about the immense and extremely damaging trade in wildlife. Most of this blog concerns my leisure hours, or at least that part of them I get to spend watching wildlife in the wild. Every once in a while, though, I get to rub shoulders with people trying to help wild animals on the ground.

A few weeks before our visit to Sabah, while we were in Kuala Lumpur, I discovered that Siew Te Wong, the brother-in-law of Eileen’s old classmate — our host in the city — had just opened a sanctuary for Borneo’s only bear, the Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus), on land at Sepilok. You can read about it — and find out how to help the bears – here.

Wong was not in Malaysia at the time, but in the United States completing his doctorate. In the days of Skype, of course, this is not a problem, and Wong and I were soon having a computer-to-computer chitchat. Part of the upshot was an invitation to visit the sanctuary.

Wai Pak Ng, Project Manager of the centre, kindly showed Eileen and me around.

The centre was started in 2008, but with limited resources and facilities. Shortly before our visit it had moved into state-of-the-art new quarters at Sepilok with the help of the Sabah Wildlife Department. They looked pretty impressive to me.

There are lots of articles and stories about the centre on its site, and if you are interested in the details you should check them out. But I can say that places like this are necessary and valuable, however stark they may look in photos – and not just because they may save the lives of individual injured, confiscated or abandoned animals.

Illegal trade in wild animals is an immense problem , particularly for increasingly rare species like the sun bear, in high demand as luxury food items or to supply the traditional medicine market. Law enforcement officials faced with the prospect of dealing, not with an inert piece of contraband, but with a living, kicking and possibly dangerous animal – and a sun bear would certainly come in that category – need help in everything from training for their own safety to housing and caring for their new and potentially frightening charges. A suitable rescue centre, staffed by experts and recognized by the government, can make all the difference between confident law enforcement and a quite reasonable urge to look the other way. That, in many circumstances, can make a huge difference for conservation.

So, thanks to Wong and Wai, and Good Luck to the BSBCC!

3/4/11

Remembering Ah Chong – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Remembering Ah Chong – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Date: March 4th 2011
By: Siew Te Wong

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Ah Chong our sweet male bear has left us on the morning of February 15th, 2011 due to Congestive Heart Failure caused by an abnormal heart that associated with genetic abnormality. Ah Chong was sent to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre from Telupid, interior Sabah on Sep 6, 2001, as an adult pet bear locked up in small cage for years. Ever since he was captured as pet, he never touches soil, climb a tree, nor have any contact to the forest, until he was moved to the BSBCC’s first bear house and forest enclosures in April 2010. At his new home, Ah Chong dug the soil, sniffed the forest air, and be like a wild bear. Sometime, he preferred to stay at his indoor den than staying outside in the forest enclosure, because physiologically he thought indoor was safer than in the outdoor as majority of his life was actually spent behind bars on concrete floor.

We will remember Ah Chong although he is no longer with us anymore. Om the sun bear, Ah Chong’s long time playmate, seem more quite than before, probably grief over the loss of his long time friend. The story of Ah Chong tells the story of a typical caged sun bear. Habitat lost, human encroachment, poaching, female bears being killed, bear cub being captured for pet trade, follows by years and years of living behind bars and confines in small cages for many years until they died from old age, diseases, or mentally breakdown.

An Chong is finally free from suffering as a sun bear who live in captivity all his life because of human’s cruelty, greed, and naivetivity. From of your supports and help, Ah Chong finally got a chance to live like a wild bear at the very end of his life at the BSBCC’s forest enclosure.

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May you rest in peace Ah Chong, we will always miss you and remember you!

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3/2/11

山打根的故事

山打根的故事

http://sandakantours.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post.html


太阳熊的救星

栖息在婆罗洲,全世界最小的太阳熊有得救了!
黄博士终于回到了山打根,继续为婆罗洲太阳熊庇护中心Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Centre做出更多有意义的救太阳熊行动。
黄博士与小太阳熊Natalie

早在1994年,黄博士在美国的蒙大拿大学与太阳熊结下不解之缘。多年来对太阳熊的研究,让他成为世界上数一数二保育太阳熊的专家。
从最初去深入了解野外的太阳熊,黄博士也到动物园,人们的住家等等去观察被关在笼子里的太阳熊。
他发现人们没有好好地对待这些被饲养或被当成宠物的太阳熊。
这使他萌起了设立婆罗洲太阳熊庇护中心的念头。他要让那些遭受遗弃的太阳熊有个安全的场所,重新去学习如何在野外生存。

黄博士向人们解释婆罗洲太阳熊庇护中心

保育太阳熊的工作都是不简单的。
既然有了这么一位热心的先锋,我们呼吁更多的人们及各团体参与这项有意义的活动。
欲了解更多有关婆罗洲太阳熊庇护中心,请游览http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/

山打根的故事: 救救太阳熊 (Sun Bear)

山打根的故事: 救救太阳熊 (Sun Bear)

救救太阳熊 (Sun Bear)

从很多的纪录片,大家都知道北极熊,黑熊,灰熊等等,但却不知道全世界最小的太阳熊竟然在婆罗洲内。
太阳熊也被称为马来熊或狗熊,它们主要栖息在东南亚的热带雨林中,是熊家族中最小的类型。


它的头部短圆,身子胖嘟嘟的,加上乌黑光滑的全身短毛,样貌十分可爱。
众多的动物之中,太阳熊是被忽略的动物,有关方面的研究工作非常少。至2008年,全世界才有3个太阳熊的生态研究。
人类不断开伐森林,这使到太阳熊的生命受到威胁。
它们失去栖居的地方,食物等生活环境。另外,偷猎活动也使它们的数量减少,面临濒危


为了保育太阳熊,爱熊的黄博士已经在山打根的西必洛,成立了一个保育太阳熊的中心。
每个人都可以为太阳熊作出一点贡献。最简单的做法就是告诉其他的人有关太阳熊的保育工作。

当然,大家可以多了解太阳熊,有钱出钱,有力出力地去挽救这个动物。

欲知更多有关太阳熊,请游览http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/