Saving Sun Bears

Saving Sun Bears is about the story of Dr Wong Siew Te and his lifetime dedication to saving the smallest bear species on earth from the ravages of deforestation, human poaching and the illegal pet trade. It follows Wong's journey from his own days as a researcher and how he fell in love with Sun Bears, right up to his creating the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) and the on-going work to rehabilitate bears and to release them back into the wild.

When Dr Wong started studying sun bears in the 1990s, there were only two other sun bear researchers in the world. There is no-one on earth who knows more about sun bears than he does. Wong was featured in the documentary film BEARTREK. He was named a Malaysia Hero by his government, and named a CNN World Wildlife Hero in 2017.

The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is located in Sepilok, Sabah, Malaysia. It is next door to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Sandakan airport is 30 minutes’ drive away, with regular short flights to the state capital of Kota Kinabalu. Dr Sarah will be leading a tour of Sabah as soon as possible. Contact Sarah at https://sarahrpye.com/contact to express your interest.

In 2018, Sarah joined Wong to release two rescued bears back into the wild. The heartwarming experience is recounted in the last chapter of Saving Sun Bears. Two years later, Dame Judi Dench joined Wong to release two more. Footage of release was included in a documentary called Dame Judi Dench’s Wild Borneo Adventure. Because they had shared the same life-changing experience, Dame Judi was happy to endorse Saving Sun Bears.

Sarah wrote Saving Sun Bears as half of her Doctor of Creative Arts Degree. The other part was a thesis about the power of narratives to engage non-scientists in conservation. Her degree took four years to complete, and the book was published soon after.

Sun bears are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are thought to be far less sun bears than orangutans, which are listed as critically endangered. Unfortunately, we know far less about sun bears, and we need more data. Scientists estimate that the species will be extinct in the wild within 30 years if we don’t take action.