The Perth Zoo sun bears rescued from cruel illegal wildlife trade in Cambodia
Cassidy Mosconi and Pip Christmass
7NEWS
Wednesday, 4 March 2020 6:19 pm

Sun bears rescued from horrendously cruel conditions at the hands of illegal poachers in Cambodia are being celebrated at Perth Zoo.

It’s been a long road for Jamran and Bopha, who have had to go through years of therapy to be able to trust humans again.

The two sun bears were rescued in 2007 from the illegal wildlife trade.

They were poached as cubs in Cambodia.

Bopha was kept illegally by a local family as a pet.

Jamran was found hogtied to a pole, to be sold to a restaurant.

Perth grandmother Mary Hutton founded Free The Bears in 1995.

Since then, nearly 1000 bears have been rescued from across Southeast Asia.

“We see firsthand the negative impacts that all of the poaching and illegal pet trade has on these bears, and it does make me very said,” the bears’ handler said.

On Sunday, Perth Zoo will be inviting Perth families along to its Teddy Bears Picnic, where people can learn about conservations work and say hello to Jamran and Bopha.

Sun bears are native to the tropical forest habitats of Southeast Asia.

They are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, which tracks the status of species globally.
https://7news.com.au/news/wa/perth-zoo- ... --c-729762

Good news. I'll need to google to see if I can visit the zoo.

Well, looks like Peth zoo is in Australia and can be visited.

Ravensnest wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:08 pm Good news. I'll need to google to see if I can visit the zoo.

Well, looks like Peth zoo is in Australia and can be visited.

Might interest you.
This sun bear was rescued in Cambodia in 2017 - newsworthy/caged-sun-bear-rescued-from- ... 15089.html Says the owner "loved it like a child."

They go nuts in cages.
Virtually all of the bears that come into Phnom Tamao as adults have been in cages all their lives,
'really mucked up in the head.

The other cohort that comes into PT are very young, enroute to the bile factories in VN, Korea and China.
They do much better in the relatively free-range Phnom Tamao environment where Free The Bears does a lot of work to add natural stimulation to their lives.

Good that they are being spread around different zoos, the numbers that FTBears handle just keeps growing and they will never be suitable for re-release.
Too dangerous - they are often described as the most dangerous animal in SEAsia.
Zoo kept animals that are conditioned to get their food from humans makes them especially unsuitable for re-release.

Cutest and most fun things in the world up to about 4-6 months. Only.
Bloody powerful little sherman tanks from birth.