Sun bear feeds on pill milipede – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
http://youtu.be/PLMzwSzuTw8
3/17/12
How does it feel to be a caged sun bear? – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
How does it feel to be a caged sun bear? – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
Text and Photos by Siew Te Wong
Few weeks ago a group of 40 students and teachers from Karamunting Primary School (Sekolah Kebangsaan Karamunting), Sandakan, visited Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Wearing the typical white and dark blue school uniforms, the students have a great time visiting the two conservation centres and learned about sun bears and orangutans.
Our project manager Wai Pak gave them an induction about ecology and conservation of the sun bear at the pavilion.
The group then break up into two subgroups so that they were more easy to manage (:)).With a high curiosity and anticipation, the students marched to the bear house to meet the sun bears.
Wai Pak told them the organization and the background information of BSBCC.
I briefed the students on the ecology of sun bears and what them such a special and important animal in the forest ecosystem.
“Sun bear is not a pet! You cannot keep sun bear as pet!” Wai Pak told the students and shared the stories of our rescued sun bears. “Many sun bears that were kept as pets end up being locked up in small cages!”
One of the activities that we did that day was to “lock” few volunteer students in a tiny sun bear cage , pretending that they were pet sun bears. That particular cage was used by a private owner to keep his pet sun bear for years. We asked them, “How did it feel to be lock up in this tiny cage for 5 min?” “Imagine some sun bears were being caged in this tiny space for more than 10 years!” They all went silent..
This field trip for sure was very educational and informative to the students from Karamunting Primary School. They not only see some real sun bears for the first time in their life but also learn a lot about their plights and the conservation issues. We hope we could raise sufficient fund soon so that we could build the visitor centre and bring these students to experience a better learning environment.
Text and Photos by Siew Te Wong
Few weeks ago a group of 40 students and teachers from Karamunting Primary School (Sekolah Kebangsaan Karamunting), Sandakan, visited Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Wearing the typical white and dark blue school uniforms, the students have a great time visiting the two conservation centres and learned about sun bears and orangutans.
3/16/12
The forgotten bears of S.E Asia – Presentation on Sun Bears @ UWC – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/2011/11/28/2686/
Last week, I received a pleasant surprise in my email inbox. Sarah, a yoga instructor and mother of two boys who used to study at United World College (UWC), contacted me for help. She has never been to BSBCC but had come to know of Wong’s work through the internet. She had met someone in Singapore who spent a week or two at BSBCC and felt that it was important to spread the word here about the Sun Bears. She believes strongly in involving youths at such meaningful projects and wanted to help in any way that she could. Her sense of initiative was so strong that she had actually already created her own series of presentation slides based on information from the internet! I jumped at the opportunity to assist her.
The audience were high school students from UWC’s Global Concerns Group (PAW: Promoting Animal Welfare). From their expressions, I could tell that they were amazed by these incredibly special bears, the most arboreal and illusive of all bear species. I answered some questions pertaining to how they could visit as volunteers and what the conservation centre was like.
It was indeed encouraging to know that youths are so eager to lend a helping land to these precious Sun Bears of Borneo. It is also amazing to see how social media platforms have extensively influenced people like Sarah to be so passionate about conservation. I hope to continue raising awareness for the interests of Borneo’s remaining Sun Bears.
By SayLin Ong
Manis the Sun Bear at BSBCC
In May/June 2010, 3 friends and I spent a total of 5 weeks at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). The 4 of us were ex-colleagues at the Night Safari show department and were eager to put our husbandry and enrichment experiences to good use for the Sun Bears. Thanks to Mr Sivasothi, we were referred to Mr. Wong Siew Te, the founder of BSBCC.
Since returning from that internship, I have been sharing with people about the plight of Asia’s lesser-known bear species. My biology blog was initiated by that internship in Borneo. You can follow what went on during my internship here. In August 2010, I gave a presentation on the Sun Bears for a Toddycats Engage! meet-up session, a volunteer group from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, NUS. I also had the privilege of submitting an article to the Jakarta Globe in April 2011, discussing about the oil palm industry and their threat to wild life in Southeast Asia.
Me presenting to the students of United World College SEA
Sarah, during her part of the presentation on how individuals can help, as well as appealing for BSBCC's current donations wish list.
Students and staff of UWC's Global Concerns Group; PAW:Promoting Animal Welfare.
*Please visit http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/bornean-sun-bear-conservation-centre-bsbcc/ to see how you can help.
One Comment
- I salute your great work for these special bears!!
Jimmy
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Slowly but surely, the world will know about the sun bear! – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
Slowly but surely, the world will know about the sun bear! – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
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By:
Sun bear remains the least known bear species in the world. Not many people, locals, general public, and students included, from SE Asia know about there is a bear call sun bears that live in their own country. It is very sad if you think of it: a large carnivore that plays important roles in the forest ecosystem but are completely being forgotten. Sun bear is a charismatic large mammal but unfortunately most general public know more about foreign bear species, i.e., grizzly bear, giant panda, and polar bear, than a native bear species live in their own country.
This month there is another exciting news. Sun bear and BSBCC was mentioned in an article in the latest issue of the Malaysian Airline in flight magazine, Going Places. The magazine is read by thousands of travelers in MAS’s flights across the world each day for the entire month of November! This is the first time that Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is mentioned and probably the first photo of sun bear is being published in a magazine read internationally.
Thank you Elaine Tan for writing this article about the top 10 must see wildlife in Malaysia and included sun bear as one of them.
Slowly but surely, the world will know about the sun bear!
However, this situation is changing after the establishment of Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). Our blog at http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/ has been viewed 122, 006 times by 74,514 different people across the world since May 2010. At the same time, there are more and more people help us to spread the words and love about sun bears over the past three years. In the last few months, there were more books written about sun bears than the all books published in the history combined (you can read more about these books in our earlier blogs). So our words are definitely spreading out!
Slowly but surely, the world will know about the sun bear!
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And now kids are learning about sun bear and BSBCC too! – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
And now kids are learning about sun bear and BSBCC too! – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
Text by Siew Te Wong
This is another good story of “do what you do best to help sun bear and BSBCC”.
The following is what Joyce wrote about the chapter on Susie the sun bear in her book:
Sun bears are the smallest species of bears in the world and are found in the tropical rainforests throughout Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the number of sun bears are declining. This is mainly as a result of deforestation and poaching.
The story about Susie came about after volunteering at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center (BSBCC) through Raleigh (UK youth development charity) last year.
Susie is a real sun bear. She was the first sun bear that I saw at the BSBCC – actually, the first sun bear that I ever saw. Even though parts of the story about Susie is fiction, it is true that she grew up in the rainforest near Tawau and was kept as a pet, before she was rescued by the BSBCC in Sepilok, Sabah in Malaysia.
The story about Susie the little sun bear cub and how she lost her mum and ended up at the Sun Bear Center is the saddest story in the animal storybook. I wanted it to be as close as possible to what unfortunately does happen in reality to many sun bears. Yet the story gives hope by introducing one to the Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Center – founded in 2008 by Mr. Siew Te Wong – it is safe to say that he is the leading expert on sun bears.
The Center was set up with the support and help of Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) and a charity called Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP).
So, this is where Susie lives, together with more than 20 other rescued bears. Most of them were brought to the Center as orphans or as victims of the pet trade.
Spending about 6 weeks at the Center in Borneo working as a volunteer through Raleigh in 2010, I could see a true dedication by the staff, not only for the conservation of the sun bears, but the environment in general.
However, the BSBCC is still under construction. It aims to conserve sun bears through a combination of education, rehabilitation, research, and improvement of the welfare of captive orphaned sun bears.
Currently, the Center is not open to the public. At the moment, they will start working on the construction of a viewing platform for visitors, so the idea is to open it in order to educate the public.
Apart from being incredible fascinating animals (which we know very little about), the sad story of the sun bears is one that opens up the door to many different environmental issues, which can can be introduced into the classroom by simply telling the story about Susie the sun bear from Tawau.
Thank you Joyce! Your work is important to us and the sun bears.
Please help us spread the words about this book and support Joyce and BSBCC!
Text by Siew Te Wong
This is another good story of “do what you do best to help sun bear and BSBCC”.
Joyce Malmo was a volunteer project manager with the Raleigh International working with BSBCC back in August 2010. She felt very privileged to be working at BSBCC and experiencing the sun bears. Joyce decided to do more subsequently to her volunteering work with us. She decided to write a children book about sun bear and other wildlife and their habitat across the world.
The book, ANIMALS – Stories From Across the World is an environmental education storybook for children between 6 – 10 years. It’s a storybook meant for children, teachers, parents, guardians and children. The book contains 7 animal stories from various animals across the world including activities and educational material that can be used at home or in the classroom. This book is currently available for sale as an “eBook” as starter to generate enough fund to publish in paper format. Joyce is very kind to donate 10% of the sale to BSBCC for our education activities. You can purchase the book online at http://www.story4environment.org/.
===================================The following is what Joyce wrote about the chapter on Susie the sun bear in her book:
Sun bears are the smallest species of bears in the world and are found in the tropical rainforests throughout Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the number of sun bears are declining. This is mainly as a result of deforestation and poaching.
The story about Susie came about after volunteering at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center (BSBCC) through Raleigh (UK youth development charity) last year.
The story about Susie the little sun bear cub and how she lost her mum and ended up at the Sun Bear Center is the saddest story in the animal storybook. I wanted it to be as close as possible to what unfortunately does happen in reality to many sun bears. Yet the story gives hope by introducing one to the Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Center – founded in 2008 by Mr. Siew Te Wong – it is safe to say that he is the leading expert on sun bears.
So, this is where Susie lives, together with more than 20 other rescued bears. Most of them were brought to the Center as orphans or as victims of the pet trade.
Spending about 6 weeks at the Center in Borneo working as a volunteer through Raleigh in 2010, I could see a true dedication by the staff, not only for the conservation of the sun bears, but the environment in general.
Currently, the Center is not open to the public. At the moment, they will start working on the construction of a viewing platform for visitors, so the idea is to open it in order to educate the public.
Apart from being incredible fascinating animals (which we know very little about), the sad story of the sun bears is one that opens up the door to many different environmental issues, which can can be introduced into the classroom by simply telling the story about Susie the sun bear from Tawau.
For more information about the BSBCC, their work and the sun bears, have a look at their website/blog: http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/
=====================================================Thank you Joyce! Your work is important to us and the sun bears.
Please help us spread the words about this book and support Joyce and BSBCC!
One Comment
- Thank you matey!
David Ho
Keep up the top job.
Ciao.
HoHo (Cheso)
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