Protecting the Sun Bears of Borneo
May 11, 2016 - See how the small
sun bear, native to southeast Asia, is struggling to survive amid deforestation and poaching. The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is working to protect sun bears through its rescue efforts and by educating the public about forest protection. National Geographic grantee
Eddie Roqueta films the bears up close in their natural habitat at the center as its founder discusses the organization's quest to keep this vulnerable species wild in its rain forest home.
Learn about illegal bear-bile farming industry in Laos.Learn more about sun bears.
VOICEOVER: Wong Siew Te, CEO and Founder, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
Sun bears play very important roles in the forest’s ecosystems.
They play roles as forest doctor, forest engineer, and also forest farmer.
Sun bears are impacted by human activity in many ways. And by far, is habitat destruction.
Over the last 50 years or so, the forest in Southeast Asia has been greatly destroyed by logging activities, from forest conversion, from agriculture.
Besides this, to a lesser extent, is from poaching activities.
People in many cultures still eat sun bears as meat.
And then sun bears are believed to have certain body parts that are believed to have medicinal value. For example, gallbladder.
Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is set up as a center to conserve sun bears through a holistic approach.
In total we have two hectares of natural forests where there’s lots of tall trees. Very dense. Exactly like the pristine rain forest of Borneo.
And the bears have the opportunity to roam around this forest looking for food, climbing, playing just like wild bears.
Unfortunately, the majority of the bears that we receive here are not suitable to be released into the wild.
They have been in captivity for a long time.
They lost their fear to people, and then they associate humans with food.
One of the very important mission for the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is education.
Only through education there is hope.
Our ultimate goal is actually the protection of the forest, of the full forest ecosystems.
As we know, a healthy ecosystem must have bears.
