Moon bears are actually an arboreal species, meaning they enjoy climbing trees just as much as they enjoy foraging on the ground.

But while Animals Asia’s sanctuaries all include plenty of opportunities for the bears to express natural climbing behaviours, the trees themselves are kept off limits.

This is primarily to avoid trees collapsing and breaking the enclosure fence, which would prompt a security concern.

To stop the bears climbing the trees, a ring of bamboo poles is tied around the trunk and this simple, natural solution usually proves enough of a barrier to prevent climbing. Usually.

Last week, the bamboo proved no match for moon bear PJ who smashed it off and was delighted to find the bamboo made a very convenient raised nest.

Seeing what was happening, his pal Bazan came along and found the bamboo wreckage to be full of tasty bugs just perfect for foraging.

Then Wilf came to see what all the fuss was about. He climbed up the bamboo and joined PJ in the sky nest. Suddenly the old bamboo was cracking under the weight of two full-grown moon bear bottoms and their carers were watching through gaps in their fingers. 

Down on ground level, Bazan was adding to the chaos by breaking off more bamboo in search of bugs and rolling around in the dust.

A metre or two above, Wilf started showing off by walking along the very tops of the bamboo poles as if walking on stilts when *snap* one of the poles gave way and he came crashing back down to earth.

Animals Asia Senior Veterinarian Mandala Hunter-Ishikawa said:

“PJ’s little tree party was hilarious. Everyone came to watch and we just knew one of the bears was going to come down the quick way and land with a soft bump. Luckily moon bears are very strong animals and excellent climbers so no harm was done. In fact, all three seemed to be having the best time.”

After Wilf and PJ grew bored with their new toy and disappeared, bug-hunter Bazan climbed straight up and continued her search for edible creepy crawlies above ground.

Mandala said:

“You could see old lady Bazan was pretty proud of herself for being able to clamber up the bamboo and the effort clearly made the bugs taste all the sweeter.

“For moon bears, being able to express natural behaviours is a huge part of their welfare so it was a real delight for the whole team to see this trio enjoy exploring, climbing and foraging, just as they would in the wild.”

To date Animals Asia has rescued over 600 bears – mostly from the bear bile industry – with nearly 400 bears continuing to live at the charity’s sanctuaries in Vietnam and China.

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