Working in Animal Care as a Bear Rehab Volunteer in Borneo is unforgettable!
As a Bear Rehab Volunteer in Borneo, you will work at the world’s only sanctuary dedicated exclusively to the rescue and rehabilitation of Sun Bears: The Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). Absolutely, you will play a crucial role in caring for these wonderful animals.
Since 2008, the Sun Bear Centre has been easing the plight of these animals and care for and rehabilitate rescued Sun Bears. Once widespread throughout Asia, these bears (Helarctus Malayanus) have dwindled in numbers due to deforestation, the pet trade and commercial hunting.
Helping bears to go back to the wild
First, the team rescued a bear cub called ‘Si Kecil’. By now, the centre is home to about 36 bears. Often they have lived in appalling conditions in captivity, and must be gradually introduced into their natural habitat. You will learn, as a Bear Rehab Volunteer in Borneo, that teaching the bears the necessary skills to survive in the wild is a long process. So, they must be carefully coached and selected before release.
Learn animal husbandry and enrichment as a Bear Rehab Volunteer in Borneo
Importantly, you will work alongside researchers and biologists to undertake vital conservation work. Activities include animal husbandry to maintain the centre’s health and cleanliness. Plus, get involved in enrichment to stimulate the bears and improve their living conditions. You may also help with constructing new extensions and exhibits.
Tell others about Sun Bear Rehabilitation
Finally, try your hand at teaching volunteers, local schools and visitors about Sun Bears and their conservation.
VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES:
♥ BEAR HUSBANDRY AND ENRICHMENT
♥ CONSTRUCTION OF FACILITIES
♥ CONSERVATION EDUCATION
Rm 4,990 for 14 days
• INCLUDES ACCOMMODATION, MEALS AND ALL ACTIVITIES
• MINIMUM AGE: 18 and above
• DURATION: 14 or 28 days
• OPERATION: Monthly- starts on 5th and ends on 18th.
“Watching the bears eating and enjoying their food made our heart melt.” Michael & Jana
Project activities
Animal care volunteering is varied, here are some of the activities you’ll get up to:
Animal Husbandry
You will play a vital role in cleaning enclosures and feeding the bears. You must be willing to clean up animal faeces – this can be smelly but is playing a crucial role in preventing disease.
You will also undertake daily maintenance work, where tasks could involve conducting daily checks on the facilities, painting and weeding.
Animal Enrichment
You will have the opportunity to help stimulate the animals and improve their living conditions as to mimic their natural habitat. This could involve:
- Providing leaves in enclosures for nesting and bedding
- Hiding food around enclosures to encourage foraging behaviour
- Buying fruit to ensure a varied diet
- Rope work – making this fun and varied for the bears
- Putting branches in their homes to observe behaviour
- Trekking into the jungle to find termite nests
- Designing, preparing and monitoring the effectiveness of enrichment items
- Clearing away after enrichment activities
Construction
Activities may involve designing and working on small construction projects to improve the enclosures or night den. You may be asked to help build new exhibits or extensions to improve the facilities, or improve existing exhibits by painting or adding furniture.
The project’s itinerary is subject to change without prior notice.
Rehabilitation
You work with dedicated biologists and researchers to help rehabilitate these wonderful animals, in preparation for their release into the wild. You will also learn how wildlife conservation is being carried out on site.
Observe the sun bears behaviour and diet
You will have the chance to gain vital fieldwork experience in the tropical rainforest environment, as well as take responsibility for updating the blog and data entry of the Bear Behaviour Record and the Weekly Record.
Education
The centre has an education centre and library. Volunteers will have the chance to learn a lot about the sun bears and share this with the local school children, by designing and implementing an education session for them. You may also be asked to talk about the bears to visitors of the centre, or prepare displays and information on them.
HOW TO BOOK
PRICING FOR VOLUNTEERS
*All prices are in Rm Malaysian Ringgit (MYR), so please convert to your own currency at the current rate
Equivalent to:
£872*
€1,006*
$1,064*
Equivalent to:
£1,644*
€1,895*
$2,006*
START DATES:
This program operates every month except December.
Volunteers start on the 5th and end on the 18th of each month
MINIMUM AGE FOR THIS PROJECT: 18 years
Includes:
- Accommodation & Food
- All project activities
- Conservation contribution to the project
- Airport transfer
- Transport to the centre each day
- Organisation’s t-shirt and a dedicated programme coordinator.
Excludes:
- Flight fares
- Travel insurance
- Private transfers
- Visa and Permit applications (Camera fees)
- Vaccinations
- Food/activities not included in the project
- Personal travel on days off and personal incidentals
HOW TO BOOK
Accommodation and Food
Accommodation is included as well as meal allowance for all project days. You will be staying with other volunteers in a shared dormitory style room (max 2), and share a communal kitchen with basic cooking facilities for self-catering. Warm water showers and washing machine available.
Volunteers are also welcome to venture out to some of the delicious local restaurants to try traditional Malay dishes – sampling the local delicacies is an experience not to be missed!
Compulsory for all volunteers
- You will need comprehensive insurance coverage and proof of insurance must be provided along with flight details.
- Vaccinations – Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Tuberculosis (doctor’s note to certify clean bill of health).
Further Details
Further details about getting to project base will be given during booking.
HOW TO BOOK
Sun b
ears are listed as Vulnerable in IUCN Redlist and are threatened for many reasons, which the centre has been tackling through educational activities to increase awareness of the need to protect sun bears. As the only sun bear conservation centre in the world, the centre has a big task on its hands (it has now cared for over 60 bears), but with the help of volunteers, they will continue to make a difference. This is an animal care volunteering opportunity that will make a real impact!
Successes to date…
Releases: One of the center’s very first sun bears ever to be reintroduced into the wild was Si Kecil. Her story is sad but typical; poachers killed her mother and she was kept as a pet. The release process is lengthy and rigorous: about 10 bears have been released into the wild since the program started in 2015.
Providing a safe home: The center hopes to release more bears into the wild in the future, however for rescued bears that cannot be released (often because they would be unable to survive, due to physical damage caused by their previous owner) the center provides an improved long term living environment for them. At the end of 2021, the center housed a total of 45 bears. With access to outdoor enclosures, these bears can step onto soil ground, climb, dig for grubs, forage and rest in the trees for the very first time.
Animal care: The center rehabilitates rescued bears after many years of trauma from being locked up in small cages as illegal pets. The team has received training in using healing and relaxing techniques to help the bears recover from the physical and psychological trauma they endured.
In 2021, the centre achieved the following:
Education
Outreach
HOW TO BOOK