Keep calm and cheers to Simone

Text by Seng Yen Wah

Photos by Chiew Lin May & Seng Yen Wah

Simone is a sweet-natured sun bear and is one of the favourite bears of people who have met her. She is an 11 year old adult female bear and has a wide and beautiful chest mark which looks like a webbed foot. Before Simone arrived at BSBCC, she was kept with a male sun bear, Along, in a Mini Zoo, Hot Springs at Tawau. On 2016, the owner surrendered them to Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and they came to BSBCC together.  

Simone captures people’s hearts with her irresistible attractiveness. Simone is always chilled and calm. She is an observer, preferring to stay somewhere high, to be able to observe her surroundings. She is always curious and wants to get involved in whatever is happening at that moment. For this reason, she is always sitting on the water container to get a closer and better view of the activities around her.

Simone loves her enrichments and always looks forward to them. She enjoys everything that is offered to her. You can see how much she enjoys the enrichments as she climbs, explores, tears, bites and enjoys.

On the 28th of December, 2018, Simone finally took her first step into the forest. Now, she is confident to explore there, she spends more time observing her new environment. Due to the limited forest enclosures for the bears in our centre, she takes turns to go out to the forest enclosure with Sigalung and Kudat. This is because they are staying in the same row of dens. Sometimes Kudat is in a bad mood with Simone, especially when Simone gets the food or enrichment first, yet, this seldom bothers Simone. Along, the bear who came to the BSBCC with Simone used to be her neighbour. We exchanged Along with Sigalung. However we found both Sigalung and Along showed negative social behaviour with Simone during integration. Therefore, they are separated into different dens.

It is very interesting to observe Simone's behaviour. She likes to sit on the food holder and enjoys her food by holding it with both front paws. However, when offering her food on a tray, she likes to dig everything out and this is how she got the gold digger title. Simone is a slow eater. Sometimes she will not eat the food immediately, she will wait and begin to eat when she is ready.

After four years of rehabilitation in our centre, Simone has improved a lot. She is enhancing her skills every day. It makes us happy to see Simone enjoying her life and learnimg to be a wild bear.

Betung, the Sun Bear - Five months progress

Day 177: Give Betung the best of everything to speed her recovery.

Wow looks how Little Betung has grown! She had made great progress in the forest and learns the essential skills needed to survive in the wild. To her, freedom means to able to do whatever she want, explore, climbing favourite trees, forage for food and be herself! She loves this adventure.

It will be a long road to recovery. This illegal pet trade - unable to express natural behaviours, left the bears traumatized and alone. There is always a reason for HOPE. Now she is safe and lives a second chance at a happy life, thanks to people like you!

Sun bears belong in the wild and should never be kept as pets! You can show your care by adopting Little Betung here:

Beautiful transformation, is not it? ❤️

Please share Little Betung's story!

Fulung Siesta!

Siesta in life!

May your days be filled with laughter always!
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"This is the kind of place we would love to spend most of our time here where we can explore, foraging, climbing favourite trees, resting, and play fight with bear pals! Please help protect our habitat!" - The smiling bear, Fulung!

Betung & Pill Millipede

Day 169: Pill millipede! How yummy does this look?

Did you know – Sun bears are the smallest members of the bear family. Sun bears are opportunistic omnivores which means they eat a variety of fruits, plants, figs, insects, and even honey! Sourcing wild forest food is important so the rescued sun bears can become accustomed to a variety of food sources that they can forage in the forest.

Little Betung is curious and wondered how pill millipede taste like?

Kipaku is Taking a Power Nap in Forest

 “It definitely was a perfectly cozy day for my Tuesday sunbathe time!” ❤️

The warm weather makes Kipaku ready to take a nap in the forest.

There are many who still want to destroy their forest for their own greed.Please take a stand to protect the remaining rainforest! 

Follow the link to learn more about sun bears and our work here: https://www.bsbcc.org.my

Betung Enjoys Forest

Day 166: A guardian of this little bear!

She is one of the survivors of the illegal house pet whom lost her mother since in young age. Sun bear cubs remain dependent on their mother for 2 to 3 years. She was weak and vulnerable and in desperate need of our help. After 5 months of the rehabilitation process, Little Betung is fulfilled in the forest home! She enjoys learning the life in the forest - enjoyment of lives with many small pleasures!

Slowly, she realized that nothing bad was going to happen to her anymore. She is now a happy, well-adjusted bear cub.

She requires lifelong care and deserves a future that will be a bright one. To make her dream a reality –buy a special gift (nutritious food, health care, enrichment treats & love). Please be a guardian of this little Betung! You are made a world of difference for her! 

Dodop, the Orphaned Sun Bear

 Dodop was rescued by Sabah Wildlife Department in 2nd June 2016, where she was found kept as a house pet in Singgaron villager, Ranau district. Demand from the wildlife trade leads to sun bears being illegally stolen from the wild to become pets, attractions in zoos or used in traditional Asian medicine. 

Having been kept long in captivity and habituated to people, she has lost the natural instinct to survive in the wild. Fortunately, with the help and care from our team, Dodop has finally learned what it is like to be a wild sun bear. She loves hanging out on the tree! Please share her story!

Life is Better Because of You

Text & Photos by Seng Yen Wah

Betung is the youngest cub in BSBCC. She is now ten months old. In April 2020, Betung was found alone by a villager's dog in Kampung Betung, Ranau district. When Betung was found, she was tiny. She had been kept in a small cage. Her diet lacked nutrition which affects her growth and development. When she came to the BSBCC, her weight was only 1.4kg. She was emaciated, malnourished and had multiple alopecias on her body. The villager surrendered her to the Sabah Wildlife Department and they sent her to the BSBCC on 26 August 2020. It took her two months to recover from her poor health. 

Now, she has become a cute and playful bear. Without her mother being beside her, Betung lacks security. For her own good, we decided to let her be integrated with other bears. In 2020, we received three cubs, Kipaku (11 months old male cub), Itam (1-year-old female cub), and Betung. So, this provided an excellent opportunity to let them be friends. 

25 December 2020

On Christmas day, Betung met with Kipaku and Itam.

First, Itam came into Betung’s cage. Betung saw Itam, and she growled. Itam climbed, while Betung stayed on the ground. Betung is curious, and she sniffs the sliding door. Itam approaches Betung for the first time. Betung growls and barks. Itam tries for a few times, but is rejected by Betung.

Betung bawled when she saw Kipaku. Kipaku tries to approach Betung, Betung barks at him immediately. Kipaku tries to get attention from Betung, but Betung is roaring at him.

On this first day of their integration, Betung was alert but afraid to meet Kipaku and Itam. However, there was no aggression.

26 December 2020
The next day, Kipaku met with Betung. Kipaku was excited to meet Betung. However, Betung did not feel the same way as Kipaku did. Kipaku stood on his hind legs, and he was ready to play. He pawed Betung. But Kipaku's way of playing is a bit rough for Betung and she growls at him. Kipaku then explored the environment and enrichment. Betung was curious about him but still kept her distance. Once Kipaku tried to approach Betung but she avoided him and growled at him.

After Kipaku, Itam came to meet Betung begining slowly and friendly. Itam seemed to know that Betung was scared. She kept her movement slow and low. They were very curious about each other and kept looking at what the other was doing. They were spending more time on investigating each other than playing.

27 December 2020
Once the sliding door opened, Betung approached Itam first. She was following Itam and sniffing her. Itam had her head down and approached Betung. Betung sniffed her. After this, Betung kept following Itam to find where she was. Itam played softly with Betung. They finally started to really play! The integration of Betung and Itam showed positive signs.

Kipaku joined them to have a play fight. Kipaku gave Betung his back, but Betung didn't want to play with him. Kipaku and Betung chase-and-run around the den. Kipaku took the first step to play fight with Betung. He softly bit Betung. Betung stopped avoiding him and started to play fight with Kipaku. Later, Itam joined them too. The three days of integration was a success. 

After getting along, they were moved to a larger space - the exercise pen. Betung likes to be with Itam. If Kipaku was playing too rough for her, she will give him a warning bark to stay away. After Betung gets tired of playing with Kipaku and Itam, she explores the environment and enrichment alone.

Betung is the smallest bear that we have ever had. It's wonderful to see her growing up day by day, and now she has companions in her life. Betung’s life is better due to the companionship of Kipaku and Itam. We hope that these three little cubs can learn and support each other to become bears full of courage and confidence.

Kipaku Enjoy Soaking in the Stream

Morning dip, anyone?

Little Kipaku enjoying a dip on a sunny day. He always will stop by and take a dip in his chilly stream.

"Despite the many important functions that sun bears serve, their long term survival in the wild depends on the continuous existence of natural forests” –Dr Wong Siew Te

Sun bears play a vital role in maintaining the forest ecosystem – fruit seeds dispersal, nutrient cycling, and termite pest control. But their forests are under threat from illegal logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations. We need to act fast before this magnificent wildlife disappears from our planet. Let’s protect our forests so we can save their life and ecosystem.

Adopt Little Kipaku 💚

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End the Illegal Pet Trade!

Illegal trade is one of the biggest threats to the sun bear’s survival. Our rescued sun bears were a victim of the illegal wildlife trade before someone came to their aid. The rehabilitation process helps to restore the sun bears’ natural behaviour and preparing for their lives in the wild can be a long process. After being rescued, they start to re-learn skills with the help of their bear friends. Such as foraging for food, climbing, and avoid strangers which their mother will teach them when they were young.

Keeping sun bear as pets is illegal and it could make the bears lose their instincts for living in the wild. Please return back to where they belong. Each of us must make a difference!

If you see suspicious activity, be sure to REPORT illegal trade in bear parts to:
# Jabatan PERHILITAN Semenanjung Malaysia: 1-800-88-5151
# Sabah Wildlife Department: 088-254767
#Sarawak Forestry Corporation: +60168565564
# Wildlife Crime Hotline | Hotline Hidupan Liar | 野生动物罪案热线 : +60 19 356 4194