Text and Photo by Warren Timms
My name is Warren and my partner Marie and I are from Australia and we have just completed a 2 week volunteering program at BSBCC. We chose BSBCC for a number of reasons, but the main considerations for us were the threats that sun bears are still facing and reading about the excellent work that Wong and his dedicated staff are doing.
The program was well paced and included a good variety of activities. These included food preparation and feeding, cleaning of bear enclosures, perimeter fence checking, bear integration observations, enrichment activities, construction of bear climbing structures and assisting staff with medical examinations and observations.
The staff at the center are very helpful and take very seriously the health and safety of the bears and the volunteers. The whole program was well organised with the assistance of the Ape Malaysia facilitator (Harith) and I feel very privileged to have spent time working with the staff and the sun bears here. Each of the bears have their own individual personalities and one of the things that I enjoyed the most was observing each of the bears and how they interact with each other and their environment. Some of the bears have made a remarkable recovery compared to the circumstances that brought them to the centre.
The future of Borneo sun bears is still uncertain, but I am sure that it is a lot brighter with the help of Wong and the passionate, dedicated staff at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the volunteering programs (2 or 4 weeks) to anyone who is interested in helping in the conservation of the smallest bear species in the world. Thank you again to Wong and the staff at BSBCC for an unforgettable experience.
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