Sun bears are the smallest bear species and face both conservation crises in the wild and significant welfare challenges in zoo and sanctuary settings across Southeast Asia.
Sun bear welfare challenges fall into two categories: bile farming (extreme), and inadequate zoo housing (widespread). Bile farming confines bears in devices that prevent natural movement for years while repeatedly draining their gallbladders — causing pain, infection, and severe psychological trauma. Rescued bile bears often rock, pace, and display self-directed behaviors that persist for years after rescue, reflecting permanent psychological harm. Zoo sun bears in inadequate enclosures — too small, too bare — develop similar stereotypies. High-quality sun bear programs provide large semi-natural enclosures with substrates for digging, tree structures for climbing, and intensive foraging enrichment that engages their specialist tongue anatomy.