Wong explains why sun bears have the name they do ("they each have a distinctive white mark on their chest that looks like the sun”) and reveals the inspiration behind the project.
“I’ve been studying these remarkable creatures for over 13 years now and have seen them held captive in dreadful conditions: tiny cages and decrepit zoos. Something had to be done. You find sun bears throughout Asia, but Borneo is their last stronghold, and even here they face numerous threats.”
Deforestation, illegal logging inside protected areas and conversion of rainforest to palm oil plantation practices mean the sun bears' habitat keeps on shrinking and their numbers have been steadily declining over the last few decades.
“Even though they’re classified as ‘Totally Protected Species’ in Sabah, farmers see them as pests and kill them to prevent them from getting at the crops” Wong tells me.
“They’re also hunted for their gall bladders which are still – unfortunately – widely used in traditional Chinese medicine.”
Sun bears are also particularly cute when little, so poachers kill their mothers and sell the babies as pets, which then spend their lives in tiny cages, being fed an inadequate diet. With 28 bears currently in its care, I ask Wong about the goals of the BSBCC.
“We’re trying to do several things at once: raise awareness and educate people about sun bears, provide a good long-term home for those bears whom we won’t be able to release back into the wild, and a short-term home for those that can be rehabilitated.”
We suddenly notice another bear high up a tree, climbing with the grace of a big cat. Another bear is visible through the thick undergrowth, sharpening her long, capable-looking claws on a tree stump.