Rudy and Friends!

Text and photos by Jacquelyn Jill Jepiuh

Rudy has progressed so nicely after being in her forest enclosure. It is time to introduce her to some new friends! The team had decided to introduce her to Kukuton – our sweet, quiet and quirky bear. The team knew that these two would get along just fine but we were not prepared for how close their bond would be. The two complimented each other so well. Rudy is a friendly and mellow bear; while Kukuton is lovable but has a very peculiar personality.

Upon the first cage-by-cage integration session, Kukuton was obviously very excited seeing a different bear other than his usual friends – Kipaku and Betung. He couldn’t contain himself as he climbed up and down and constantly pawed at Rudy through the cage bars. Rudy is generally a very friendly bear, but with Kukuton’s exaggerated excitedness, she was very wary to even go close to him. After a few more cage-by-cage sessions, Kukuton eventually settled and became his more usual calm self. Rudy also became more comfortable and would occasionally sniff and paw at Kukuton too. What an endearing sight to see the friendship between these two starting to come to life!

It was then time to let these two friends meet. Kukuton was so eager to meet Rudy that he immediately ran towards her and started playing. His enthusiasm scared Rudy a little bit and she ran away from him a few times. After a few minutes of chasing each other around, Rudy eventually accepted Kukuton’s friendship offer and they started playing with each other!

As Kukuton’s fence training is still in progress, we notice that Rudy has given him more confidence and he is generally happier with Rudy. Rudy has never had body contact with another bear but has shown great progress in socializing with Kukuton. In the wild, sun bears live alone due to a limited supply of food in the forest. They are only seen together when a mother is with her cub, or during mating seasons. Here at BSBCC, we integrate and let the bears socialize with each other to conserve space and most importantly encourage healthy bear behavior.
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BSBCC would like to thank our supporters – Yayasan Hasanah, Kementerian Kewangan, and Yayasan Sime Darby– for giving us a chance to give bears like Kukuton and Rudy a better quality of life compared to their last. 

If you would like to read up on Kukuton and Rudy’s background story, feel free to read it up on our blog:
https://www.bsbcc.org.my/kukuton.html
https://www.bsbcc.org.my/rudy.html