Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May
Loki, one year old female sun bear cub was discovered in the backyard of an inn, where she had been illegally kept as a pet for about five months. Her previous owner purchased her from a friend in Ranau, west coast of Sabah, and named her “Ooi”.
Her background story is very unclear, but as of March 24, 2014 she was rescued and given a new home at the BSBCC. Loki is a very special sun bear cub adopted by Steve Denim who is passionate in changing a sun bear life. He name this female sun bear cub as “Loki” to remember his cat who was struck by a car and unfortunately succumbed to his injuries.
When Loki was confiscated by the Sabah Wildlife Department she was in very poor health due to the owner’s lack of knowledge on how to properly take care of a sun bear cub. Loki was severely malnourished, which caused her paws to appear too big for her thin body. She had also experienced so much stress that she paced a lot when she first arrived at the Centre.
Under the care of BSBCC, Loki’s physical condition has improved.
She is very aware of her surroundings and reacts to every sound by standing on her feet.
Due to the emotional traumas that occurred from being kept as a pet, Loki is having a hard time adjusting. Often times when she enters the exercise pen, she is too afraid to explore the climbing structures or enrichment activities. Instead, she likes to spend her time resting in a big basket where she feels safe.
She is quite adorable and has an especially wide pointy mark on her throat to chest.
Loki has adapted to her new environment and situation quite well given what she has been through. She is slowly gaining the strength and confidence that she will need to live the life of an independent sun bear.
Explore skill! It was noticed that Loki use her claws to tapping the new enrichment and climbing structure at Exercise Pen.
Foraging skill! She is using her sharp canines as weapons or as tools for tearing at trees to get insects.
Loki busy focus digging for termites at the Exercise Pen.
Climbing skill! She has a strong claws that helps in climbing.
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