LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE OF KALIMANTAN’S SUNBEARS

On October 17 th, the Nyaru Menteng Medical Team were busy preparing for surgery on a 5 month old baby. This time, their patient was not a baby orangutan, but a bear cub. Seeing this little cub would break your heart, as her right forelimb was broken and she had lost 4 of her fingers.  The tiny cub had also lost her claws which left open wounds like she had sustained a blow from a sharp object or trap.  Sometimes you could hear her whines from the pain she has to endure.

Her origin and how she ended up with humans are unknown. The Nyaru Menteng team didn’t have the chance to meet the person who handed her over to the Central Kalimantan Conservation and Natural Resources Authority (BKSDA). The day before, the Nyaru Menteng team only received information that the Central Kalimantan BKSDA were to deliver a sunbear.

Forest School Students Visited the Little Patient
Before receiving further medical treatment, the bear cub was temporarily placed in a transport cage in front of Nyaru Menteng’s Clinic. That afternoon, young orangutans just arrived back from Forest School and were playing in the playground before going back to their enclosures to sleep for the night. Unexpectedly, they gathered in front of the Clinic and crammed around the transport cage where the bear cub was lying. They took turns trying to take a closer look into the cage to have a better view of the tiny creature with black fur inside. Some of the young orangutans were very curious that they went around the cage to observe closer.

The babysitters and medical team were made busy by this, of course. They tried to bring the orangutans back to the playground so they wouldn’t bother the poor little cub. As if they knew that their new friend in the cage was suffering, the orangutans calmed down and sat nicely around the cage instead.

The Lorn Cub
After a thorough examination of the bear cub’s condition, the Nyaru Menteng Medical Team decided that they had to carry out amputation of her right forelimb. The team removed a bone which was portruding from one of her digits and sutured the open wound also on her right forelimb to avoid infection.

After surgery which lasted for 35 minutes, the cub started regaining consciousnous and moving some parts of her body. She was then moved to an isolation room where the Medical Team would observe her condition intensively for the next three days.

What is Happening to Kalimantan’s Sunbears?
Even though the BOF Foundation programs are focused on orangutan conservation, the BOS Foundation also supports rescue efforts for other protected wildlife species such as gibbonsand sun bears.  The sun bear rescue program within the BOS Foundation has been running since the establishment of our sun bear sanctuary in Samboja Lestari in East Kalimantan and enclosures have also been established for temporary care in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan. Until this day this program, however, has not been optimally developed due to limited funding and sun bear expertise.

Deforestation in Kalimantan does not only remove orangutan habitat, but many other animals also lose their home including sun bears. Just like orangutans, sun bear cubs are hunted and sold in illegal pet markets as pets because they are irresistibly cute when tiny. Hunters shoot sun bear mothers and take the cubs from their nests.

Sun bears are highly reliant on fruit as a significant part of their diet and also act as predominant seed dispersers.  Forest loss decreases suitable habitat in which  sun bears can forage for food. It is not unheard of for sun bears to enter farms and get caught in traps.  They go through a horrible fate; they are injured by the trap, tortured, or even killed by people believing sun bears are dangerous.

Similar to the cub in Nyaru Menteng, in Samboja Lestari there is Kancil, a little sun bear who lost her left arm. Kancil was rescued from an area nearby Balikpapan, the capital of East Kalimantan, after Samboja Lestari received information about a female sun bear stuck in a trap. Her left arm was already decayed and heavily infected so that the Samboja Lestari Medical Team had no other choice but to amputate the arm. Kancil now lives in the Samboja Lestari Sunbear Sanctuary and is now famous as a sunbear with remarkable climbing ability!

Challenges to Sunbear Conservation Efforts
Conservation efforts will not be successful unless habitat is protected. Currently our team in Samboja Lestari cares for 47 sun bears, while 9 sun bears are housed at Nyaru Menteng. They are living in the sanctuary and enclosures without any certainty of their future because so far reintroduction efforts have largely failed. Whether this is due to the rehabilitation process and bear behavior, or suitable forest habitats away from people, without any serious forest conservation effort, sun bears will lose their natural habitat and sooner or later this animal which is icon of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, will be heading for extinction.