North American Sun Bear Population

USZOOfan42 said:
What Zoos?
2 at Atlanta
1 at SDZ
1 at Audubon
1 at Tampa
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To be precise, there are 1 male and 1 female at Atlanta, 1 female at San Diego, 1 female at Audubon, 1 male at Tampa 2 female at Oakland, 1 male at Honolulu, 1 male at St Louis and 1 female at Catocin. I do hate to say this, but Sun Bears are slowly becoming less common in American zoos than Giant Pandas.
 
GFgomez said:
Blackie at Honolulu estimated mid 30’s
Fong at Racine is 32
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Fong would be the oldest because I found an article confirming that Blackie is just 28.
Honolulu Zoo on Instagram: "The Honolulu Zoo bid a fond aloha to our elderly female sun bear, Scruffy last week. Scruffy came to her retirement home in Hawaii in 2022, as she was previously housed as a solo bear at Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. Used to her solo lifestyle, Scruffy did not show any interest in becoming a full-contact companion to our male sun bear Blackie, but they provided enrichment and stimulation for each other as they lived side-by-side. Fun fact: Scruffy, Juwita (our previous female sun bear and longtime companion of Blackie), and Blackie were all housed together many, many years ago at Cleveland Zoo! While Scruffy’s actual age is unknown, she was over 39 years old, the oldest sun bear in captivity! On average, sun bears live approximately 25 years in captivity. Blackie is currently 28 years old! Enjoying their golden years, our elderly sun bears spend a lot of time resting in their comfortable hiding spots but can be seen exploring their exhibit and looking for treats, particularly in the early mornings and afternoon around 1:30 pm. Sun bears are a vulnerable species threatened with extinction mainly due to deforestation and habitat loss, as well as hunting for gall bladder harvesting due to false claims of medicinal use of bear bile. We are honored to be able to provide a safe and spacious area for these adorable bears at the Honolulu Zoo. We will miss you Scruffy. ❤️ #honoluluzoo #honolulu #hawaii #sunbear"
 
PSO said:
Whats the confirmation catoctin has just 1? I saw 4 of them there less than 8 years ago
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Per a conversation you had earlier in this thread:
PSO said:
Catoctin is down to just 1 bear?
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Neil chace said:
Their 2022 USDA inspection listed two bears, while their 2023 inspection only listed one.
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TinoPup said:
Their one remaining is very old, too :( I've visited several times and there's been one less each time.
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As an update, USDA reports from 2024 still show just one.
 
CTZoologist said:
This is very sad. Why were they phased out? Who makes those decisions? Has their viral popularity made anyone reconsider?
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North America has struggled to maintain a viable population of sun bears due to a lack of breeding success. I’ve observed the same in Australasia, where the population is founded mostly by rescue bears, who have social abnormalities and have made for poor breeders.

Europe has been the most successful region in breeding outside of Asia, but they’ve had predominantly female births and so they lack the number of males required to sustain a sustainable population. This in turn reduces the options North American zoos have for sourcing more.
 
CTZoologist said:
That is very interesting! So it isn't a deliberate choice, it's just a reality? Phased out to me sounds intentional
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Intentional choice based on the reality that the population never really did much and there's no real options for success. Unfortunate but it does open up more spaces for populations that are doing better.
 
Perhaps my question would be better posed this way- is there some larger body deciding to stop trying to breed them, or is each zoo making the decision?
 
CTZoologist said:
Perhaps my question would be better posed this way- is there some larger body deciding to stop trying to breed them, or is each zoo making the decision?
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The AZA bear taxon advisory group, who oversees the SSPs, is the over arcing management group who decided to put sun bears on phase out. However that said, it ultimately comes down to individual facility management as well. If there had been some facilities who disagreed with the phase out and wanted to continue breeding the species, they would have. But none did. There simply weren’t the animals there in the country to breed, and obviously no interest in importing from outside the region.
 
Hyak_II said:
The AZA bear taxon advisory group, who oversees the SSPs, is the over arcing management group who decided to put sun bears on phase out. However that said, it ultimately comes down to individual facility management as well. If there had been some facilities who disagreed with the phase out and wanted to continue breeding the species, they would have. But none did. There simply weren’t the animals there in the country to breed, and obviously no interest in importing from outside the region.
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Thank you!
 
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