Saving Sun bears seminar
July 10, 2019
We are very grateful to everyone who attended our recent seminar at the Canada Bay Club. With our speakers; Lesley Small, Larry Vogelnest and Siew Te Wong everyone who was there now understands the sun bear more and the reasons why it needs to be saved in Sumatra. Thank you to everyone who not only attended, but everyone who donated prizes to help us raise our much needed start-up funds for our future rescue and conservation centre.
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UPDATE !!!!
Thank you Pall Zillmann for putting on a great night in November 2018!! Paul raised over $1100 for our cause. It really will go towards us getting to our goal of Saving Sun Bears in Sumatra!! Thank you from all of us at SSBT and thanks for all of your friends support also .
Sun Bear Speed Trivia Brisbane
All donations and proceeds raised going towards the work of Sumatran Sun Bear Team, preventing and relieving the suffering of Sun Bears in Sumatra.
As well as trivia there will be games, live music, raffles and lots of fun, so bring the whole family along!
When: Saturday 10th November
Where: Hope St Cafe
170 Boundary St
West End QLD 4101
Time : 5 PM.
Tickets: No ticket needed – just pay on the day!
See here for more information
See you bear!
UPDATE !!!!
Thank you!!
On the 24th November 2018, We are very pleased to announce that The National Zoo and Aquarium, Canberra raised over $6,700 with a Trivia night. This is our first fund raiser that has been held for us to help us achieve our goals to help the Sun Bears in Sumatra and get us closer to building a Conservation and Rescue Centre. Thank you to everyone involved, you all went to so much effort before and on the night. Thank you Caitlin Gilchrist for arranging everything that you did and worked with such a great team. Thank you also to the Canberra Labor Club Belconnen for donating the use of the venue, your venue and the staff were just amazing. Thank you also to everyone who donated prizes, worked on the night and who made everyone feel welcome.
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“Cantik” is a female Sun Bear who has found herself in a position she would never had imagined could happen to her. Through no fault of her own, while walking through the forest she stepped on a snare that was set for other species, possibly deer or wild pig. A snare is usually a wire lasso that is hidden on the ground and tied to a tree. Once the paw goes through it and the animal pulls to try and escape, the wire loop tightens. There is little chance of escape. “Cantik” is one of the lucky ones, where the local people found her in the forest in Ache, Sumatra and called for help. Sun Bears are fierce, strong and in “Cantiks’” case she would have been in pain and very frightened for her life. A difficult situation to try and rectify. It took a few days before a Wildlife Veterinarian could get to the scene to dart her with an anaesthetic and transfer her to a surgery at the University of Banda Aceh. Her paw was so badly damaged it had to be completely amputated. She has recovered well, but because she may now not survive in the forest she has been cared for in a holding facility.
We would like to see her in a natural environment where she can explore, try to climb, rest and dig where they will be safe. A place where she will see birds and insects and wandering monkeys. We have just the place to build such a centre where Sun Bears, just like “Cantik”, who have found themselves out of their natural homes, can come and call the SSBT their new home. If they can’t be returned to the forest, they can stay with us.
We hope that you can help us help “Cantik” and Sun Bears just like her.
Thanks to nominations from our wonderful supporters, Sumatran Sun Bear Team (SSBT) was selected as a finalist to win $5,000 generously donated by the National Zoo & Aquarium.
Hearing that the winner would be the charity that had the most votes, our network of dedicated bear supporters jumped to action, sharing the post far and wide, asking family and friends to vote for SSBT.
We were honoured to be named alongside three other fantastic organisations, and were blown away by the level of passion and endorsement we received from people all over the world who believe in SSBT’s mission.
The race was very tight and although SSBT came in second place, we gained many more supporters and more people are aware of the work we are doing to save the Sumatran Sun Bear.
Thank you to the National Zoo & Aquarium and to everyone who voted for SSBT!
Our founder Lesley was in Bukit Lawang for a week after winning the International Conference of Zoo Keepers (ICZ) Conservation award. Lesley gave a fantastic talk to the local people about the importance of the Sun Bear in the local eco system and our plans for the rescue and conservation centre. Lesley and the SSBT worked with Anders Alexander to produce posters for the local people to read in both English and Bahasa. We also produced 2,000 bilingual Educational flyers to be distributed to the people of the Village and the surrounding areas, thanks to Jon Dunn for working with Lesley on this.
It was great to see so much great feedback and that the local people are excited that they will be involved in the project towards the common goal of saving Sun Bears.
Warwick Taylor from Global Wildlife Constructions, travelled with Lesley along with a local land surveyor, assessed the land and many discussions were had around what would be the best way to layout the space we have available.
Lesley also met up with Sun Bear expert Siew Te Wong, Veterinarian Dr. Arman, The owner of the land Sipke Verhage and one of our Sumatran team members Dewi.
It was a very productive time in many ways.
Imogen, the Sumatran Sun Bear Team (SSBT) secretary, and two family members visited the Bukit Lawang land where we will build the rescue and conservation centre for four days in April.
Imogen met and spoke to a lot of the fantastic local people whose support and input will be fundamental to our success and who welcome our project as a away of further protecting their forest and the animals that live within it.
Their logoed SSBT t-shirts were a hit with tourists visiting the Bukit Lawang area, with many people stopping and talking to the group, and expressing excitement in being able to visit our rescue and conservation centre once it is up and running.