19 April 2023 update

Since the beginning of 2023, we have focused our efforts on doing maintenance on the sun bear enclosures, renovating cages and building climbing structures for the bears at the rescue centres of both the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) and the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI). Of all the improvements done in the last few months, here are the ones that have significantly improved the welfare of 3 sun bears:

At BOSF in East Kalimantan, we renovated 2 large outdoor cages and their holding dens allowing BOSF to accept 2 new adult female sun bears with the names of Lou and Kerin who arrived at the centre in March 2023. Lou and Kerin have spent their life in cages, sometimes in very bad conditions, so their present situation is a great improvement to what they have known. The next step will be to socialize them with other bears at the centre to allow them to have access to one of the 16 large forest enclosures.

At OFI in Central Kalimantan, we also renovated a large cage for a new young bear named Coki who arrived a few months ago at the rescue centre, allowing him to enjoy a decent size cage while waiting for a better option. Unfortunately, the 4 enclosures that we’ve built at OFI since 2014 are not sufficient to hold the 18 sun bears in its care, so we are now discussing the option of building 2 new forest enclosures. Once we have a precise plan and quote for the new enclosures, we will need funding and hope that you may help us.

As always, our drive is empathy and our motive is to give the best possible life to sun bears who unfortunately can’t be released back to the wild.