Short film on the making of the enclosure

After 3 months of hesitation, Bonnie finally found the courage to go into the main enclosure and I finally managed to get some footage of all 3 bears playing in the forest so as to complete the short film I was editing on the making of the enclosure.

Check it out:

http://youtu.be/zn11hGxWbiA

News on Bonnie, Desi and Hilda

It’s been almost 3 months now that Bonnie has free access to the main enclosure yet he still hasn’t ventured into its forested area. He goes in the enclosure, walks along the wall, looks at the trees within, hesitates at going into the forest, turns around and quickly goes back to the feeding cage. But everyday he ventures further and further away from the feeding cage, slowly overcoming his fear of being outdoors. He’s almost there!

Desi and Hilda are doing well. They have been enjoying the main enclosure for more than 6 months now and are much more relaxed and at peace then they were before. In their old cage they spent a lot time pacing like most sun bears do if locked in a small space, but now the only time I see them pace is when they are hungry and impatient to be fed. The ret of the time, they seem fairly content.

I believe that making forested enclosures for adult captive sun bears is without a doubt the best thing we can do to significantly improve their quality of life. This enclosure for Desi, Hilda and Bonnie was my first, and in a few days a second enclosure will completed for two other sun bears at OFI, Ori and Komet. In the years to come, I thus hope to do many more enclosures for many more sun bears.

To find out more about Ori and Komet’s enclosure:

http://help2sunbears.blogspot.com

Thank you for your support.

Patrick Rouxel

Belated update

I apologize for not writing anything sooner. In September last year I thought it would be a matter of weeks before I could make a short video on Bonnie and the girls enjoying the forest in the large enclosure, but it’s been almost five months now since Bonnie’s been with Desi and Hilda and I still don’t have any footage of Bonnie in the forest, let alone of him playing with the girls in the trees.

Bonnie is the male sun bear who arrived at the OFI care centre in June 2014 and who was introduced to Desi and Hilda on 31^st August. The three bears became friends right away but when Bonnie went into the small enclosure he got a bad shock on the electric fence and refused to go back in. More than 3 months were necessary for Bonnie to slowly venture back into the small enclosure and another month for him to feel comfortable in it.

Now that Bonnie is confident that nothing is going to happen to him in the small enclosure he is hesitantly going into the main enclosure. He goes in for a few seconds at a time, staying close to the door. He sniffs the air, looks around and comes running back into the cage, even if Desi and Hilda are just a few feet away as if inviting him to come play with them.

Bonnie needs time…  and my next video update will thus have to wait. Sorry about that.

ALL DONE

I apologize for not writing anything sooner. In September last year I thought it would be a matter of weeks before I could make a short video on Bonnie and the girls enjoying the forest in the large enclosure, but it’s been almost five months now since Bonnie’s been with Desi and Hilda and I still don’t have any footage of Bonnie in the forest, let alone of him playing with the girls in the trees.

Bonnie is the male sun bear who arrived at the OFI care centre in June 2014 and who was introduced to Desi and Hilda on 31^st August. The three bears became friends right away but when Bonnie went into the small enclosure he got a bad shock on the electric fence and refused to go back in. More than 3 months were necessary for Bonnie to slowly venture back into the small enclosure and another month for him to feel comfortable in it.

Now that Bonnie is confident that nothing is going to happen to him in the small enclosure he is hesitantly going into the main enclosure. He goes in for a few seconds at a time, staying close to the door. He sniffs the air, looks around and comes running back into the cage, even if Desi and Hilda are just a few feet away as if inviting him to come play with them.

Bonnie needs time…  and my next video update will thus have to wait. Sorry about that.

Requiem for Kevin

Thank you to all of you who have made a donation for this project and who continue to do so. Your help is greatly appreciated and still needed to be able to pay the final bills.

The construction of the main enclosure’s wall is now in its finishing stages, another few days are needed to finish the plastering of the wall and the making of a pool for the bears to enjoy when it gets too hot. Then there is still quite a lot of work needed to put up the wires for the electric fencing and to get the electric system up and running.

Unfortunately, I have very sad news: Kevin, the big strong male sun bear we see on all the videos of the project, died on May 11th. He was gone in less than 24 hours from showing the first clinical symptoms. Acute necrotic pancreatitis it seems, there was nothing we could do....  After a life behind bars, Kevin died just a few weeks before being able to enjoy a bit of forest and some space. Fate is so unfair sometimes. At least the girls, Desi and Hilda are doing well. The enclosure will be for the two of them now.

Here is a short video to honour Kevin’s memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HicYy5zaGCA&feature=youtu.be