LOK KAWI: The two sun bears that were kept captive at the Tawau Hot Spring Mini Zoo have safely arrived at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park near here.
According to the park’s veterinarian and officer-in-charge, Dr Rosa Sipangkui, the adult male and female sun bears were now being closely monitored.
She explained that the translocation of the sun bears from the Tawau Hot Spring Mini Zoo to the park started at 5.18pm on January 15. The entire journey took eight hours and during the journey, the anaesthetic wore off.
“The sun bears woke up fully around 9pm. We reached the park at 2am the next day. In a nutshell, the whole operation went smoothly without any untoward incidence,” she said.
Dr Rosa also mentioned that one of the sun bears did not appear to be healthy while the other seemed healthy enough and would most probably be a good candidate for rehabilitation and hopefully, for release.
Meanwhile, Sabah Wildlife Department deputy director Augustine Tuuga said there were some delays to get the sun bears to the park.
Nevertheless, he expressed his happiness that the sunbears were safe and were being monitored around the clock by veterinarians from the department.
“I urge the general public to please come forward if there is any information of sun bears or any other wildlife that are confined so we may further investigate them,” he said.