My internship at BSBCC

Text by Jasmine Stark

Photos by Jude Ailton George & Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh

I came to BSBCC through my school, they sent me to have my internship here for five weeks. Since I started my school, all that I worked for was to be able to come here, I will be forever thankful towards my school and all the people at BSBCC for giving me this opportunity.

My time at BSBCC has been nothing short of incredible. I came here with little knowledge about sun bears and I will be leaving this place filled with new facts and experiences with this species. I am incredibly thankful for the bear keepers and other staff that I have gotten to know during this period. I will miss them and all the beautiful sun bears that I have cared for during my time here. I will definitely not forget Romolina and her peaceful sleeping in trees. 

These five weeks have been filled with different tasks, challenges and opportunities. I have performed the usual husbandry tasks and maintenance tasks such as feeding bears, checking the fences and cleaning the enclosures.  One of the larger challenges at the beginning might have been the leeches (!) since we don’t have those back in Sweden but I quickly got used to them. The experience here outweighs the challenge of those leeches by miles. Not only have I done these tasks, I have also taken with me a bunch of new enrichment ideas back to Sweden, and I have created multiple enrichments for the bears themselves such as “trisslott” and the smaller stick paradox enrichments. Thank you to my buddy Neal for making this experience even better!

I also got to take part of a health check in which I was allowed to clean paws and take temperature, I’ll never forget that close contact with the bear.

Experiencing the Kinabatangan River Cruise was a great activity on my off days, being able to see so many animals up close without disturbing them is a great way to observe the wildlife, I was lucky enough to spot the rare wrinkled hornbill!
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I honestly lack words, this internship has been nothing short of amazing and I do not want to leave. I will never forget the work, the people or the sunbears, I am forever grateful!

Outreach to SK Labuk Subur

Thanks to KLK Sawit Nusantara invitation, we reached another school at SK Labuk Subur in the district of Beluran. Sabah Wildlife Department (Sandakan) and HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme (HUTAN-KOCP) joined us and having fun together while engaging the students and the teachers. The organiser and all invited participants provided information on their respective field of expertise while engaging the targets in a fun and lively manner. Thanks KLK Sawit Nusantara for the invitation, BSBCC will be always looking forward to cooperate for any future programme.

A New Experience!

Text  by Alba Nanna Ricking Simoncini

Photos by Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh

Hi my is Alba Nanna Ricking Simoncini, I am an 18-year-old student from Stockholm Sweden. I have volunteered here at BSBCC for five weeks now. I got this volunteering opportunity through my school, Spånga gymnasium. In Sweden I study animal care and this was a great opportunity to further my knowledge.

These five weeks have gone by so fast it feels like only yesterday I saw the bears and the centre for the first time. When I first saw the centre and the bear house, I knew that I would have really fun here! My first week here was both amazing and super exhausting. I both saw and learned so many new things that I would have never learned in Sweden. This was my first-time seeing sun bears in person, they were much smaller and cuter than I had anticipated! I immediately liked Romolina the most since she looked so adorable sleeping in the trees and she looked especially cute eating carrots. Another bear that I really liked was Kukuton, during fence training with him I really saw how interesting of a bear he was and his backstory really interested me as well, which is why I chose to make my enrichment project for him. I told my buddy David about my idea and with the help of some of the other bear keepers we built it, the saws used for the wood were bad so my arms got really tired. My enrichment idea was a ladder built out of wood that the bears can climb on and play on. Kukuton was a bit skeptical towards it and didn’t really like it but his cage mate Betung and Itam had fun on it and I saw them play on it as well.

Both the work and the off days have been really fun even though it has been tiring sometimes, we tried a lot of new good food as well with the staff which was really fun, and I am really going to miss Milo when I go back to Sweden. My favorite Food was Roti canai! We saw lots of new exciting animals here as well that I have never seen before such as; proboscis monkeys, macaques, big centipedes, hornbills and of course the sunbear! When we walked into the forest to look for termite nests we even saw a wild orang utan!!

The staff was really kind to us and really fun to talk to, they taught me lot of Malay words as well such as terima kasih. It was fun to get to know lots of new people from around the world and to hear about their experiences when working with animals and travelling.

Returning to BSBCC

Text by Khushalinie Kalayarasu

Photos by Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh

Having volunteered before at BSBCC in August 2016, I was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to relive this experience once again to advance a good cause in the name of wildlife conservation. My journey continued when I was exposed to the daily operations and the importance of management at running the centre. I quickly recalled the ultimate goal of the conservation centre was to rehabilitate any rescued endangered Bornean sun bears with the hopes of releasing them back into the wild one day.

Despite a short lived 2 weeks experience, it was an unforgettable and enjoyable experience. Some tasks were unfamiliar, but others had a feeling of déjà vu especially the part where I was able to recognize some of the bears, Amaco, Linggam and Simone which I had a privilege to work with previously. Even with certain tasks being physically challenging, I was able to persevere with the help and patience of the team. It was with their unwavering support that I had gained new knowledge and could perform procedures in an orderly manner. At every juncture of my doubt and query, everyone was also readily available to answer about the behaviours of the bears and clarify on some of the tasks. 

On one lucky day, I even had the chance to observe and assist Dr Boon with a bear health check. It was truly insightful to observe the procedures she carried out. With my minimal experience in a clinical setting, I learned and understood that multiple aspects of the animal should be continuously monitored by the team without fail otherwise the bear would be in grave danger.

Reminiscing my previous experience at BSBCC, this conservation centre has come a long way. From having just one viewing platform, they have now expanded into a huge operation with 2 platforms, providing a better view of the bears to the public. The determination of the founder and staff in growing this centre shows persistent effort really bears fruition if pursued. A must have resilience in wildlife conservation which I hope to replicate in my own life.   

On this experience alone, I have gained a valuable perspective on wildlife conservation and understood more about the amount of detailed effort which goes into the rehabilitation process. I owe this wonderful experience to the team at BSBCC. Everyone has been very friendly and pleasant, making BSBCC a place to remember! Special thanks to Dr Wong, Dr Boon, Pradeep, Jac, my buddy (Oliver) and every single one of the supportive team for their hospitality and invaluable wisdom. I envision to return on a third adventure soon, with a greater hunger for more. 

Log#2

Yours truly,
Khusha
Bear Claws High Five xx

Educational Outreach Program to SJK(C) Yuk Choi, Sandakan

BSBCC EE Unit was invited by KLK Sawit Nusantara Bhd to carry out an educational outreach programme to SJK (C) Yuk Choi, Sandakan yesterday on the 14th February 2023. Tagged along with us throughout the programme was HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orangutan Program (HUTAN-KOCP). Activities such as exhibitions, interactive talks and coloring the wildlife mask were included to attract students of different age groups, suiting their comprehension level. The presence of Sunny the Sun Bear also livened up the programme as the kids expressed their excitement on him.

We strongly believe education on wildlife conservation must start from our youngsters, so they can be the next generation continuing our job in the future. They will become the voice of the voiceless: nurturing them to love the wildlife will be the first step of all.

SK. Gabungan Telupid visit

Thank you, SK Gabungan Telupid, for visiting us yesterday. We are glad that they come from a distant location and chose to visit BSBCC for their school day-trip programs. They are given a guided tour to the observation platform to see the bear roaming in the forest enclosure of BSBCC.

We hope they enjoyed their time here, gained some knowledge about sun bears, and spread our words to save the smallest bear species in the world.