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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/sun-bears/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Sun Bears</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/sun-bears/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Conservationists look to defy gloomy outlook for Borneo’s sun bears</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2023 13:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/31114315/Banner-2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274826</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Deforestation, Ecotourism, Education, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, GPS, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Palm Oil, Pet Trade, Poaching, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Reintroductions, Research, Snares, Sun Bears, Tracking, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SABAH, Malaysia — The 3-year-old sun bear sits teddy bear-like in a secluded grassy glade in its rainforest enclosure. Its soft, densely furred belly vibrates as it sucks on one of its front paws, emitting a series of strange, guttural whimpers. Its head downturned, the young bear looks up at us shyly with deep brown [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SABAH, Malaysia — The 3-year-old sun bear sits teddy bear-like in a secluded grassy glade in its rainforest enclosure. Its soft, densely furred belly vibrates as it sucks on one of its front paws, emitting a series of strange, guttural whimpers. Its head downturned, the young bear looks up at us shyly with deep brown eyes, penetrating our human instinct to care for the vulnerable. “This is a rather sad behavior,” Siew Te Wong, CEO and founder of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), tells Mongabay during a visit to the pioneering rescue and education facility in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Wong says the bear, named Kipaku, was brought to the center as an orphaned cub, and what we’re witnessing is the little bear’s trauma response. “As with all infant mammals, this bear has an urge to suckle,” Wong says. “But he has no mother; his mother was brutally killed by poachers, so he’s had no opportunity to suckle … in the end, he’s developed this self-soothing behavior.” Like Kipaku, most of the 44 sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) Wong and his colleagues currently care for at the BSBCC were brought to them as orphaned cubs illegally taken from the wild and subsequently confiscated by authorities. One of the goals of the BSBCC is to return some of the rescued bears back into the wild to bolster flagging local populations. Since it was launched in 2008, the center has rewilded 12 bears into remote forest reserves in Sabah. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274826</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We will decide their future’: Q&#038;A with “pro-bear” environmental journalist Gloria Dickie</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/we-will-decide-their-future-qa-with-pro-bear-environmental-journalist-gloria-dickie/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/we-will-decide-their-future-qa-with-pro-bear-environmental-journalist-gloria-dickie/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2023 18:05:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/11140051/Polar-bear-skull-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Books, Conservation, Education, Endangered Species, Environment, Interviews, Interviews With Environmental Journalists, Mammals, Pandas, Polar Bears, Sun Bears, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Journalist and author Gloria Dickie, in an exclusive Mongabay interview, recounts her global journey of discovery culminating in her new book, Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bears and humans have a lot in common and it’s not just that we’re mammals. We can both be ruthless hunters but also gorge ourselves on berries, nuts and junk food. Both can stand on our hind legs. And both can be gentle and playful — and deadly. Bears have an uncanny ability to remind humans of ourselves, our favorite subject. So maybe it’s no surprise that bears play such a large role in human myths, and are one of the few animals most people can recognize on sight. But not all bears are the same — and not all bears are treated equally. In her enlightening and entertaining new book, Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future, veteran environmental journalist Gloria Dickie explores the bears we adore (think pandas, Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and those we treat worse than cattle for slaughter (think moon bears, Ursus thibetanus, in the bear bile industry). “In Chengdu [China] near where you have the panda breeding base, you [also] have one of the rescue centers for the bile bears. That cruel juxtaposition,” Dickie points out in an interview with Mongabay. “Pandas are not hunted, they&#8217;re not used for anything, they&#8217;re worshiped next to what is arguably one of the most cruelly treated animals in the world, living side by side. That&#8217;s where the people element gets in. What is it about human psychology that we treat one bear like this, and this other bear is basically enslaved into these cruel factory farms?” If it’s not clear&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/we-will-decide-their-future-qa-with-pro-bear-environmental-journalist-gloria-dickie/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/we-will-decide-their-future-qa-with-pro-bear-environmental-journalist-gloria-dickie/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lessons from panda conservation could help Asia’s other, overlooked, bears</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/lessons-from-panda-conservation-could-help-asias-other-overlooked-bears/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/lessons-from-panda-conservation-could-help-asias-other-overlooked-bears/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2022 07:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/06131822/panda-eating-bamboo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255558</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Funding, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Mammals, NGOs, Pandas, Sun Bears, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Serving as the mascot of a world-renowned conservation organization, building diplomatic relationships between China and the world, playing protagonists in blockbuster movies — giant pandas have done it all. The public attention and adulation these animals garner make them star attractions at zoos and have helped pump billions into tailor-made conservation programs that have successfully [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Serving as the mascot of a world-renowned conservation organization, building diplomatic relationships between China and the world, playing protagonists in blockbuster movies — giant pandas have done it all. The public attention and adulation these animals garner make them star attractions at zoos and have helped pump billions into tailor-made conservation programs that have successfully brought the species back from the verge of extinction. “They hit the lottery,” says Willam J. McShea, a wildlife ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute who has studied giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)  in the wild. “They have gotten a lot of attention, and it has resulted in a turnaround for that population. That&#8217;s kind of rare in the conservation business.” Often perceived as cuddly and cute, giant pandas hog the limelight with their iconic look — the black-and-white fur, big eyes and the button nose — instantly connecting with people’s emotions. “People go just like ‘it&#8217;s a baby bear,’” McShea says. “It&#8217;s always a baby, even when it&#8217;s 200 pounds [90 kilograms] in weight.” Conservation efforts have successfully used this anthropomorphized discourse to gain traction for their cause. “Monetary investment in such universally pleasing campaigns are also much more significant than campaigns for other bears,” says Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO and co-founder of Wildlife SOS, a wildlife conservation organization in India. In recent years, panda numbers have increased, and their geographical range has expanded, thanks to international and national efforts to save them. The species’ conservation status on the IUCN Red List improved in 2016&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/lessons-from-panda-conservation-could-help-asias-other-overlooked-bears/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/lessons-from-panda-conservation-could-help-asias-other-overlooked-bears/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255558</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green groups call for scrapping of $300m loan offer for Borneo road project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/green-groups-call-for-scrapping-of-300m-loan-offer-for-borneo-road-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/green-groups-call-for-scrapping-of-300m-loan-offer-for-borneo-road-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2021 04:34:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/29053318/IMG_8350-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248314</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Development, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Logging, Natural Resources, Palm Oil, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sun Bears, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Transmigration, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservation groups are calling on the Asian Development Bank to tighten its scrutiny of a road project it plans to fund in Indonesian Borneo that may pose risks to Indigenous communities and the environment. The project, not yet approved but for which the ADB could offer a $300 million loan, aims to rehabilitate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservation groups are calling on the Asian Development Bank to tighten its scrutiny of a road project it plans to fund in Indonesian Borneo that may pose risks to Indigenous communities and the environment. The project, not yet approved but for which the ADB could offer a $300 million loan, aims to rehabilitate and upgrade 280 kilometers (170 miles) of roads in the provinces of North and East Kalimantan. The Indonesian government touts the project as an effort to boost economic growth in this border region with Malaysia and further the integration of the two countries’ palm oil industries. But the plan faces mounting criticism from environmentalists from around the world, as independent research and Mongabay’s own reporting have highlighted the potential for environmental damage and social disruption to the Indigenous communities in the region. “There are thousands of hectares of unrealized [oil palm] concessions straddling the proposed roads,” Angus MacInnes, project officer at the nonprofit Forest Peoples Programme, said in a statement published Oct. 15. The planned ADB road project’s reach in Mahakam Ulu district. Image courtesy of Forest Peoples Programme. Oil palm concessions in Mahakam Ulu district. Image courtesy of Forest Peoples Programme. Industrial-scale forest clearing in recent decades — for mining, logging, and oil palm cultivation — has threatened the well-being and lives of both human and animal inhabitants throughout Indonesian Borneo. The extensive draining of the island’s peat forests to make way for agriculture has also rendered the carbon-rich soil highly susceptible to fires.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/green-groups-call-for-scrapping-of-300m-loan-offer-for-borneo-road-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/green-groups-call-for-scrapping-of-300m-loan-offer-for-borneo-road-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248314</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fate of Malaysian forests stripped of protection points to conservation stakes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/fate-of-malaysian-forests-stripped-of-protection-points-to-conservation-stakes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/fate-of-malaysian-forests-stripped-of-protection-points-to-conservation-stakes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Oct 2021 19:30:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/29072737/Malayan_T-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248130</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Development, Ecology, Ecosystems, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Logging, Mammals, Mining, Natural Resources, Palm Oil, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sun Bears, Threats To Rainforests, Tigers, Transmigration, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Before the clearing and excavators and bulldozers, before plans to build a gold mine and oil palm plantations, the Jemaluang and Tenggaroh forest reserves in Johor, Malaysia, were wildlife-rich jungles by the sea. Elephants, tigers and sun bears roamed the rainforests’ dimly lit interiors. Critically endangered tropical trees flourished by the seashore. But in 2014, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Before the clearing and excavators and bulldozers, before plans to build a gold mine and oil palm plantations, the Jemaluang and Tenggaroh forest reserves in Johor, Malaysia, were wildlife-rich jungles by the sea. Elephants, tigers and sun bears roamed the rainforests’ dimly lit interiors. Critically endangered tropical trees flourished by the seashore. But in 2014, both reserves were struck from Johor’s list of permanent forest reserves, with parts of the land taken into private ownership. Seven years later, a fifth of the more than 17,000 excised hectares (42,000 acres) has been cleared, Malaysian environmental news site Macaranga reported. Vast tracts of rainforest are being razed to the ground by extractive companies, which are reportedly profiting off timber sales while preparing to grow lucrative oil palm. All of this is happening on land owned by the sultan of Johor, the head of the state, according to Macaranga, which has raised questions about the effectiveness of a nationwide conservation initiative the two reserves had been part of. Malayan tigers (Panthera tigris), which are critically endangered with less than 300 individuals left in the wild, roam the Jemaluang and Tenggaroh forests. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay A largely toothless plan Before they were degazetted, the Jemaluang and Tenggaroh reserves had been part of the Central Forest Spine (CFS) Master Plan, a federal government-driven project aimed at forming an unbroken link of forests across Peninsular Malaysia. First unveiled a decade ago, the CFS plan is now under review. An additional Improving Connectivity in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/fate-of-malaysian-forests-stripped-of-protection-points-to-conservation-stakes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/fate-of-malaysian-forests-stripped-of-protection-points-to-conservation-stakes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248130</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Highway cutting through Heart of Borneo poised to be ‘very, very bad’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/highway-cutting-through-heart-of-borneo-poised-to-be-very-very-bad/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/highway-cutting-through-heart-of-borneo-poised-to-be-very-very-bad/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2021 13:56:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/04142026/sabah_3938-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246247</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, North Kalimantan, Sabah, and Sarawak]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Culture, Deforestation, Development, Ecology, Ecosystems, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Logging, Mammals, Natural Resources, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sun Bears, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Transmigration, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every few years, stretches of Borneo’s towering dipterocarp trees fruit in a synchronized pulse. In those months, the air is rich with brown, winged fruit, which fall and spin to the forest floor. These are sites where life gathers to feast in momentary abundance: bearded pigs (Sus barbatus), sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every few years, stretches of Borneo’s towering dipterocarp trees fruit in a synchronized pulse. In those months, the air is rich with brown, winged fruit, which fall and spin to the forest floor. These are sites where life gathers to feast in momentary abundance: bearded pigs (Sus barbatus), sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and more. To get to these fruiting sites, some species trek for hundreds of kilometers. Their migration is critical to Borneo’s ecosystems, which are some of the richest in the world. They cross forests but also national borders: Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei all own parts of Borneo, making it one of the largest transboundary rainforests on the planet. A pair of sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) in a tree. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. An orangutan in Sabah, Borneo. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. In 2007, the three countries signed a voluntary pact to conserve one-third of its land: a mostly intact, 22-million-hectare (54-million-acre) stretch named the Heart of Borneo. Now, this agreement is breaking up as they pursue a new collective ambition: the Pan Borneo Highway, a 5,324-kilometer (3,308-mile) road network that will link Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia to Kalimantan in Indonesia, and Brunei. While the new highway could spur economic development in remote villages, it also carves into protected areas in the Heart of Borneo, opening them up for resource extraction. In particular, the roads could fast-track development of a new “oil palm belt,” with disastrous consequences for both wildlife and Indigenous people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/highway-cutting-through-heart-of-borneo-poised-to-be-very-very-bad/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246247</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Saving sun bears’: Q&#038;A with book author Sarah Pye</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/saving-sun-bears-qa-with-book-author-sarah-pye/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/saving-sun-bears-qa-with-book-author-sarah-pye/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2020 13:37:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/29125825/20171110-132447-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231924</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, China, Malaysia, Sabah, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Books, Conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forestry, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Illegal Logging, Logging, Mammals, National Parks, Natural Resources, Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sun Bears, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In his 2006 book, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, science writer David Quammen says, “Some people admire soldiers, or surgeons, or firemen, or astrophysicists, or medical missionaries, or cowboys. I admire field biologists.” Quammen wrote that “field biologists are, on the whole, a guild of extraordinary people — smart, passionate, patient, congenial, and physically as well [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In his 2006 book, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, science writer David Quammen says, “Some people admire soldiers, or surgeons, or firemen, or astrophysicists, or medical missionaries, or cowboys. I admire field biologists.” Quammen wrote that “field biologists are, on the whole, a guild of extraordinary people — smart, passionate, patient, congenial, and physically as well as intellectually tough.” That’s an apt description of wildlife biologist Wong Siew Te, whose story author Sarah Pye captures in her new book, Saving Sun Bears. Wong is the CEO of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, a rescue and education facility that he founded in 2008 in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The center cares for orphaned and confiscated Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus). Currently, more than 40 of them reside in the rainforest habitat of the center, and in 2019, more than 84,000 visitors came to see them. Pye’s book traces Wong’s path from his birthplace in the state of Penang in peninsular Malaysia through Taiwan, where he studied animal husbandry and met his wife, to Montana, where he tracked grizzlies and black bears and where his children were born. It was a nudge from Wong’s professor and future research adviser, Chris Servheen at the University of Montana, that intertwined his future with the sun bear’s. But as much as Saving Sun Bears is a biography of Wong and his relationship with this still-little-known rainforest-dwelling bear, it’s also a clarion call — first, to save the sun bear, a cause Pye herself has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/saving-sun-bears-qa-with-book-author-sarah-pye/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/saving-sun-bears-qa-with-book-author-sarah-pye/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231924</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vietnam’s bear bile farms are collapsing — but it may not be good news</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/vietnams-bear-bile-farms-are-collapsing-but-it-may-not-be-good-news/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/vietnams-bear-bile-farms-are-collapsing-but-it-may-not-be-good-news/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2018 10:13:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/11070728/Bilebear2.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208167</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Poaching, Research, Sun Bears, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Consumer interest in farmed bear bile seems to be declining in Vietnam, according to a new study. But this isn’t necessarily good news, researchers say, because it raises concerns for both captive and wild bears. In Vietnam, more than 1,000 bears — mostly the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Consumer interest in farmed bear bile seems to be declining in Vietnam, according to a new study. But this isn’t necessarily good news, researchers say, because it raises concerns for both captive and wild bears. In Vietnam, more than 1,000 bears — mostly the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) — live on farms across the country. They’re held in cages for their bile, a brownish-yellow liquid stored in their gall bladders, which is extracted using catheters for use as a common ingredient in Asian traditional medicine to treat liver and kidney disease. In the 1990s, bear farms mushroomed across Vietnam in response to the growing demand for bear bile. These farms in theory were meant to reduce pressure on wild bears. In 2005, bile extraction was made illegal, but bear farms continue to persist in the country, mainly due to a loophole allowing people to keep the bears they already had. Farmed bear bile, however, has failed to satisfy consumer demand, the recent study published in Oryx found, adding to the growing evidence that Vietnam’s bear farming industry is in decline. The number of bears in Vietnam’s bear farms has also fallen from around 4,500 in 2005 to about 1,200 in 2015. This decline in consumer interest is leading to a decline in care for the captive bears, researchers found. Farmers are now spending very little on food for the bears, for instance. “Farmers are now spending just $4 a month on food for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/vietnams-bear-bile-farms-are-collapsing-but-it-may-not-be-good-news/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/vietnams-bear-bile-farms-are-collapsing-but-it-may-not-be-good-news/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208167</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Last Glimpses of a Cambodian Paradise? Documenting an area on the eve of its likely destruction (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/last-glimpses-of-a-cambodian-paradise-documenting-an-area-on-the-eve-of-its-likely-destruction-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/last-glimpses-of-a-cambodian-paradise-documenting-an-area-on-the-eve-of-its-likely-destruction-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2018 12:20:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gregory McCann]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/22115401/photo_2018-05-22_23-19-49_1200px-cropped-768x428.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207678</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Illegal Logging, Mammals, National Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Sun Bears, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[First came the damning reports from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA): one last year titled &#8220;Repeat Offenders,&#8221; which described the massive logging operations taking place in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park, O Yadav National Park, and Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary. And then another earlier this year, published as a follow-up piece focusing almost squarely on Virachey National [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[First came the damning reports from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA): one last year titled &#8220;Repeat Offenders,&#8221; which described the massive logging operations taking place in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park, O Yadav National Park, and Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary. And then another earlier this year, published as a follow-up piece focusing almost squarely on Virachey National Park and titled &#8220;Serial Offenders,&#8221; which detailed the almost unfathomable scale of illegal logging operations in the Park to feed Vietnam’s rapacious desire for timber for its multi-billion dollar furniture industry — products that, when carved and polished in their final forms, end up in furniture stores in the United States, China, and the EU. The sheer scale of the logging operations makes it a wonder that there’s anything left of the forest, especially as the timber just keeps flowing out of northeast Cambodia and into Vietnam unabated. In fact, Cambodia has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates. Yet there is still plenty of wildlife, at least in Virachey National Park, where I have been part of a team that has been conducting a wildlife survey for four years now. Last year we rediscovered Asian elephants after they had not been detected in the Park for over a decade (our paper appeared in the December 2017 issue of the Cambodian Journal of Natural History), and we recently published a paper in the IUCN journal Small Carnivore Conservation documenting Cambodia’s first record of Back-striped Weasel (Mustela Strigidorsa). An Asian black bear on the move in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/last-glimpses-of-a-cambodian-paradise-documenting-an-area-on-the-eve-of-its-likely-destruction-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/last-glimpses-of-a-cambodian-paradise-documenting-an-area-on-the-eve-of-its-likely-destruction-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207678</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal trade in bear bile persists in Vietnam despite ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/illegal-trade-in-bear-bile-persists-in-vietnam-despite-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/illegal-trade-in-bear-bile-persists-in-vietnam-despite-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2016 10:32:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/18091446/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-2.44.10-pm-768x501.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=191016</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Mammals, Sun Bears, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2005, the Vietnamese government made it illegal to extract bile from bears. But the illegal trade in bear bile and gall bladder is still going strong, more than ten years after the ban, according to a new report. The unending demand for bear parts is driving two bear species — Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2005, the Vietnamese government made it illegal to extract bile from bears. But the illegal trade in bear bile and gall bladder is still going strong, more than ten years after the ban, according to a new report. The unending demand for bear parts is driving two bear species — Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) and Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) — towards extinction, researchers at TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, have found. More than 13,000 bears are thought to be held captive in bile extraction farms across Asia, according to TRAFFIC. Of these China, where the domestic sale of bear bile remains legal, is believed to hold over 10,000 captive bears. Vietnam, where trade in bear bile is illegal but keeping bears in farms is not, is thought to hold some 1,250 animals. In a study that investigated the extent of bear trade in Asia between 2010 and 2011, researchers from TRAFFIC identified Vietnam as a significant producer and consumer of bear bile products. They also found that Vietnam was a key transit hub for the illegal trade in bear parts. Following these findings, TRAFFIC launched follow-up surveys in 2012 and 2016 to assess the scale of bear trade across six major Vietnamese cities: Ha Noi, Ha Long, Vinh, Hue, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam, where trade in bear bile is illegal but keeping bears in farms is not, is thought to hold some 1,250 animals. Photo by Daniel Wilcox/TRAFFIC. Some 40 percent of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/illegal-trade-in-bear-bile-persists-in-vietnam-despite-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-191016</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malayan Sun bear: bile trade threatens the World’s smallest bear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/malayan-sun-bear-bile-trade-threatens-the-worlds-smallest-bear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/malayan-sun-bear-bile-trade-threatens-the-worlds-smallest-bear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Aug 2016 16:28:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/08/01195046/FEATRED-2-445x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187924</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bears, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Mass Extinction, Natural Capital, Overconsumption, Rainforests, Sun Bears, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Malayan Sun bear may not be the most famous animal in Southeast Asia, but it is undoubtedly one of the most endearing — though its charm hasn’t served to protect it. These gentle, inquisitive residents of the Asian mainland, Sumatra and Borneo, are threatened by poaching for traditional medicine. They’re also fast losing their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Asia&#8217;s Sun bears are Teddy bear cute, but an endangered species little known to the general public. Photo by Claire Asher The Malayan Sun bear may not be the most famous animal in Southeast Asia, but it is undoubtedly one of the most endearing — though its charm hasn’t served to protect it. These gentle, inquisitive residents of the Asian mainland, Sumatra and Borneo, are threatened by poaching for traditional medicine. They’re also fast losing their tropical forest habitat to agricultural expansion for oil palm plantations and other crops. Currently listed as Vulnerable to Extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Sun bear global populations have declined by more than 30 percent over the past three decades (three Sun bear generations). And although a number of organisations are working to study and protect Helarctos malayanus across its range, there is still much we don’t know about the species’ biology, behavior and conservation. Sun bears are the smallest living bear species, weighing just 35-80 kilograms (75 – 175 pounds). Still, this little omnivore possesses a big appetite, feeding on anything from fruit to termites; from earthworms to eggs, turtles, birds and beetle larvae. They have a particular soft spot for figs, and, living up to Winnie the Pooh stereotypes, also love honey. They’re aided in this obsession by their prestigious tongues — at 18 inches, the longest for any bear — enabling them to dexterously delve into tree trunks and steal honey straight from the hive. Unfortunately for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/malayan-sun-bear-bile-trade-threatens-the-worlds-smallest-bear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-187924</doi>				</item>
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