SANDAKAN: The Sabah Wildlife Department has installed cameras and traps in efforts to capture a protected Bornean sun bear that attacked a villager at Kampung Entilibon in Tongod here, last week.
District Wildlife Officer Hussein Mui said the devices were installed at a forest near the village last Friday with assistance from the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre.
“The victim of the attacked helped the us in checking on the traps. We believe the sun bear is still in the nearby forest.
“Although there is no report of the bear reappearing at the village or attacking other villagers, we hope the local community will remain alert and be careful with the presence of the animal,” Hussein told the New Straits Times today.
Last Monday, a 58-year-old retired teacher Jackson Yongki sustained leg injury after being attacked by a sun bear.
Yongki was planting padi with his two teenage sons when the bear suddenly charged at them in the 7.30am incident.
The bear was at first trying to attack one of the boys, but Yongki rescued his children by beating the bear with a piece of wood.
The trio tried to escape from the bear, but it bit Yongki’s leg after he fell down at a muddy area. The sun bear then fled into the forest. The latest incident is the second sighting of sun bear in Tongod in recent months
The first sighting was of a sun bear cub at a logging camp area.
Hussein said the district Wildlife Office would be setting up a WhatsApp group with villagers, so they can easily channel information to the authority’s personnel whenever they need action to be taken in future sun bear sightings.