Wellington Zoo’s sun bear cub’s first outing

January 19 2007

Wellington Zoo’s sun bear cub’s first outing

Wellington Zoo’s rare Malayan sun bear cub will go on display to Zoo visitors from this Friday 19 January, Zoo keeper Mandy Richards announced today.

‘The cub has been off display with its mother Chomel since it was born in late September. Sun bear cubs are extremely fragile and Wellington Zoo is the only Zoo in Australasia who has successfully bred cubs,’ said Mandy.

‘We believe that the cub is female, but we haven’t confirmed that yet. Chomel is still very protective of her cub and it is a bit difficult for us to get up close.’

“We are incredibly excited that the cub has survived and looks to be in robust health. We are lucky to have a cub since Sean, our male sun bear, had an operation on his penis last year. We noticed he was having a few problems so he was trained to present his penis to our medical team so they could examine him and they discovered that his penis could not fully extend,’ said Mandy.

‘In February, with the assistance of a surgical team from Massey University, we operated on Sean’s penis. After the operation Sean and Chomel were seen mating. And with the arrival of our sun bear cub, we have proof that the operation was a success.’

‘Sean was rescued from a restaurant in Cambodia by Free the Bears and came to us from Perth Zoo, because of our previous success with breeding sun bears.’

Malayan sun bears are the smallest of eight bear species and are called sun bears due to the yellow patch on their chests that looks like the rising sun.

Sun bears are endangered. Their numbers in the wild are declining due to forest destruction, the pet trade, poaching for meat and medicinal use of organs

ENDS

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