SEATTLE_Discovery Channel Canada has joined forces with Woodland Park Zoo to document the transfer of 10 confiscated endangered Malayan sun bears to U.S. zoos.

Beginning May 11, Discovery Channel Canada will accompany staff from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo on a 70+ hour journey to the Sepilok Forest Reserve in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia, to document the transfer of the sun bears to zoo officials. The bears come from the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center and will be relocated to eight accredited U.S zoos.

The documentary about the project is set to air in Canada in January 2001.

This is only the second time that the Malaysian government has allowed these highly endangered bears to legally leave the country under a long-term loan granted by the Sabah Wildlife Department. The bears will be placed in the eight accredited U.S. zoos under the sun bear Species Survival Plan (SSP) that seeks to enhance the genetic diversity among the bears at zoos in North America.

The last time such a transfer took place was in 1996 when 10 wild-born sun bears were delivered from Malaysia. Orchestrated by Woodland Park Zoo's then-curator Judy Ball, the one male and nine females went to Woodland Park, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens in Chicago, and Audubon Park & Zoological Garden in New Orleans. Woodland Park Zoo received two of these females.

Cheryl Frederick, the North American coordinator of the sun bear SSP says sun bears are a "number one candidate" for extinction because of their rapidly shrinking numbers in the wild, habitat depletion, and the increasing popularity of all bear parts for use in traditional Asian medicines and as gourmet food products. Sun bears cubs have endearing personalities and are often exploited as part of the wildlife pet trade in Southeast Asia; an adult bear is usually dangerous and expensive to keep. Such bears are turned over to the Wildlife Department and become permanent captives since re-released bears often become nuisance animals and are killed by villagers. Because of their secretive nature in the wild, study of sun bears has been difficult.

"Sun bears in North American zoos can play an important role as ambassadors for their species," says Frederick, "they help us raise awareness and concern about the sun bear's tenuous future. This aids in raising funds necessary to do something proactive." Much of the sun bear habitat is being destroyed as people illegally log Southeast Asian forests for hardwoods used in furniture for export. Indonesia in particular is the world's largest timber exporter. "If you buy furniture made from Indonesian tropical hardwoods not grown on a plantation," warns Frederick, "you are impacting sun bear habitat."

Frederick's overall goal is to work "in situ" to help sun bears in their place of origin rather than moving them. She is working to establish the Sun Bear Conservation Trust to be administered by the SSP. Funds from the trust will promote new field research on sun bears and support sun bear rehabilitation centers in Southeast Asia.

The five female and five male sun bears from this trip will likely be distributed among the following zoos: Woodland Park Zoo, San Diego Zoo, St. Louis Zoo, Houston Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. Woodland Park hopes to receive a 6-month-old male cub to add to its collection of two females.

"I think one of the most important and exciting aspects of this transfers is the relationship we have developed with the Malaysian government and Sabah Wildlife Department," says Frederick. "They are the ones that will have the most influence on what will be the sun bear's fate on Borneo. They are the ones we must learn from and work with if we want to help." The sun bears on the island of Borneo are a smaller subspecies (Helarctos malayanus euryspilus) and are found nowhere else in the world.

Accompanying Frederick and the film crew will be Woodland Park's Dr. Darin Collins, associate veterinarian, who heads the immobilization and crating of the bears and monitors their health throughout the journey; Don Kuenzer for Cleveland Metroparks Zoo; and Houston Zoo's Diana Weinhardt.