Every one of the 70 sun bears eats approximately 8 kilogrammes of food every day!
The monthly sun bear food costs around 5.600 Swiss Francs. This amounts to a weekly bill of 20 CHF per bear. The sun bears’ diet primarily consists of fruit and the following other nutrients: vegetables, tempeh (an Indonesian product from beans and soybeans), tofu and soymilk.
Of course, the bears also deserve a treat! They need to make full use of their big claws with which they search for honey, jam and insects in the outdoor enclosures as part of their enrichment. The new enclosures might be a lot bigger than the previous enclosures. However, the new outdoor enclosures are too small to provide fruits and food for the bears. This means that the BOS staff also need to add food to the bigger outdoor enclosures on a daily basis.
With your help, BOS can provide a week’s ration of
food for a bear
BOS can feed
all sun bears
bear-friendly food for 1 day
All sun bears in
the rescue centre can be
fed for 3 days
Best friends - Denny & India
Denny (Deni) and India’s friendship is unbreakable. Even in their previous enclosure they constantly played with each other. In their new home they have more space. They love using their ever-growing claws to break open the bark of trees in order to reach small tree inhabitants such as termites. The two bears alternately take turns at reaching the small delicacy or the suck them out of the tree. Sun bears love fruit, termites, sugar cane and nuts. Watch the video below.
Urgent medical aid for sun bears needed!
All the sun bears in the BOS resuce centre Samboja Lestari receive a semi-annual deworming cure and are carefully checked for diseases or pain by the experienced BOS veterinarians.
This is a highly important procedure for bears living in captivity in order to keep the risk of infection or contagion at a minimum. Help us to secure the medical treatment the bears so desperately need!
If 30 people were to donate 5 Swiss Francs per month, BOS could provide the bears with adequate medical care and the necessary treatment.
Veterinarians and animal keepers take care of the bears and the facilities on a daily basis
In addition to serving the sun bears, the new facility also offers six local workers a new home and a new workplace. These workers take care and look after the bears as well as the new facilities on a daily basis.
The new sun bear enclosures are therefore also an important project for the development of the local community. Wages amounting to approximately 20.000 Swiss Francs are paid annually to employees and the animal keepers. Since the project is entirely funded by donations, we are highly reliant on help in order to pay BOSF employees their monthly wages on time.
If 33 people were to donate 55 Swiss Francs a month, BOS could pay the wages of all the animal workers for an entire year - guaranteed!