Earlier on this week, we told you The Great Orangutan Project were building new dens for their 15 sun bears. Well, great news, they are now finished!
This huge achievement for the bears couldn’t come at a better time as today is World Wildlife Day! What a fitting way to celebrate, providing more space for these sleek coated bears, who are known to have a shy nature.The volunteers and the staff at this project are responsible for the completion of the structures and have worked enormously hard. They have mixed untold tonnes of cement and painted countless rods of steel, but they never gave up, and the end result is so rewarding. Especially for the sun bears on World Wildlife Day.
Just to recap, the need for the new dens arose last year, when the enclosure welcomed three new sun bears, despite the fact that they were already struggling for space.The project’s general manager Natasha told us;
“We have young males in the enclosure on the hill that can’t make use of the outside space as they have proved to be very wily escape artists.” (Cheeky little things) Due to this, they are restricted to particular areas of the enclosure, which makes things that little bit trickier for Natasha and the others at the project.
They must keep the males and females separated as they do not want them to mate due to lack of space. Sadly, the enclosure does everything they can for the sun bears, but the outside reality is that they are an endangered species, and the enclosure needs to help as many of the bears in need as possible.
The new night dens will house the females while their normal homes are being renovated, and eventually the goal is to split the outside area in half so both the males and females can enjoy the space. Once the other dens are renovated, the females will move back home and the male bears will have the new den! They are also looking forward to integrating some newer juvenile residents with the adults as they encourage more playfulness with all of the bears of all ages, and the adults seem to have a lot of patience for the youngsters.
The hard work doesn’t stop there, as The Great Orangutan Project continue to donate their time and efforts for the conservation of a range of species. The number of animals that need the help of humans is continuously rising, and so does the need for kind, animal-loving volunteers.
The team released several animals in 2016, and that is always the main goal: releasing the animals back to their natural habitat and allowing them to thrive in their own environment. The project hopes to release a group of long-tailed macaques and are currently radio collaring and releasing slow lorises into the surrounding Kubah National Park.
You can help by getting involved with The Great Orangutan Project and putting in your time and efforts to the conservation of all the animals there. Head on over to our Project Page now!
