Tuesday November 18, 2008

Centre to help preserve Sabah's sun bears

By RUBEN SARIO

KOTA KINABALU: Having established itself as home for wildlife such as the orang utan, Sumatran rhino, Borneo pygmy elephant and proboscis monkey, Sabah intends to give more attention to its population of sun bears.

Noting that Sabah’s sun bears were one of the world’s eight bear species, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the state wanted to protect the mammal, which was considered a unique species.

Needing care: File photo of sun bear researcher Wong Siew Te handling a sun bear in the cage at Sepilok near Sandakan.

“The task for us is to raise awareness on this little-known animal,” he said at a fund-raising event here recently for the establishment of a RM1.2mil sun-bear rehabilitation and conservation centre in Sepilok, Sandakan.

He said that research had shown that Borneo, particularly Sabah, was the last habitat for sun bears.

He said that conservation efforts must include getting them back into the wild.

The centre will be the first of its kind in Asia.

It is being set up jointly by the state’s wildlife and forestry departments and non-governmental organisation Land Empowerment Animals People, which organised the fund-raising event featuring Malaysian artistes.

Musa said the centre would provide opportunities for research on the animals apart from serving as a focal point for sun bear studies in Asia.

He said the centre could be developed as an educational and awareness facility as it was located next to the Sepilok orang utan rehabilitation centre and the Rainforest Discovery Centre.

He said the effort was another example of the close cooperation between state agencies and NGOs.

Musa said that similar efforts in the past had resulted in studies on Sabah’s flora and fauna and how to protect them.