2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

We began 2023 by continuing to make improvements on the facilities in Samboja Lestari of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) in Indonesia, now holding 74 sun bears. We renovated 2 spacious outdoor cages and their respective dens for new incoming bears before they are trained to the electric fence in an outdoor enclosure, then eventually integrated in an existing group.

 

With the help of volunteers from BOS Switzerland and BOS Australia, we also did improvements on an enclosure called Bottom Yard at Samboja Lestari: we repaired platforms, built bridges, added climbing structures and even planted 150 seedlings in the enclosure. With funds from the United World College of Singapore and BOS Switzerland, we also split Bottom Yard in 2 with one half becoming an individual enclosure for a bear called Mely who is very aggressive with other bears and who prefers to be alone, and the other half becoming an enclosure where the new incoming bears will familiarize themselves with the electric fence.

This year, 5 new bears have arrived at Samboja Lestari: 3 adults and 2 very young cubs. The 3 adult bears were placed in the newly renovated outdoor cages while the cubs were hand reared by the local staff and Pablo, a long term volunteer. As I write these lines on September 18th 2023, the cubs are doing well, spending about 8 hours a day in the forest with Pablo, while the new 3 adults bears are now all together as a group and in the process of being trained to the electric fence.

 

In April 2023, we also did maintenance work at the Care Centre of the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) in Central Kalimantan, where we have built 4 forest enclosures in the past. We equally renovated a large cage for Choki, a new young bear who arrived at the centre a few months ago. Unfortunately, the 4 enclosures at OFI are not sufficient for the 18 sun bears now in its care, and we hope to be able to build more enclosures there next year.

With the arrival of 2 cubs and 3 adult bears at BOS Samboja Lestari this year, the center is in overcapacity, and we need to do more construction work as soon as possible so that all the bears can have access to a bit of forest. The plan is to split an existing enclosure in 2 to accommodate older bears who don’t need so much space and allow the cubs to go in an existing large forest enclosure. The estimated cost of the construction is about 8500 USD, and we hope to get it done in December. We now need to find the funds.

 

Thank you for your support.