Notes from the field: investigating a wild bear sighting

Free the Bears is known for rescuing bears and giving them lifelong care in our sanctuaries across Southeast Asia. 

But our work to protect bears doesn’t stop there. We also work to keep bears in the wild, where they belong.

That means conducting research to understand wild bear populations, the pressures they face, and how they live alongside people. These insights help guide conservation decisions and habitat protection.

So when reports emerged of a sun bear living in farmland in northeastern Cambodia, our research team set out to investigate.

Here’s what they found:

Field notes from Dr. Zachary David, Research Programme Manager at Free the Bears

We began hearing reports from northeastern Cambodia that a sun bear was living in local farmland. Farmers described brief sightings near banana trees, bear nests high in the canopy, and large claw marks along the forest edge.

What makes this particularly interesting is that the area is dominated by agriculture, with only narrow strips of remaining forest along creeks. A bear persisting in such a human-modified landscape raises important questions about how it is surviving and coexisting peacefully alongside people.

On a recent field trip, I visited the site with a clear goal: to determine whether the bear is still there, how it is using the landscape, and what this means for both local communities and bear conservation.

I met with several farmers who had previously helped report bear signs, and one farmer told us that just two days earlier he had seen a sun bear run from a patch of banana trees early in the morning. We visited the site together, and bananas scattered around the area showed clear signs of having been eaten. Additionally, nearby trees were pushed over and fresh claw marks scored their trunks, all strong signs of recent bear activity.

Bear claw marks in a tree

As we searched the surrounding area, more evidence emerged. We identified five large bear nests, each associated with claw-marked trees. Three appeared old and weathered, but two were much fresher, still containing green vegetation. Beneath one nest we found a broken termite mound and a fresh pile of bear droppings, suggesting that the nest had been used very recently.

Sun bears are elusive and rarely seen directly, but they leave behind a trail of clues for those who know how to read the land.

While there, we installed a series of camera traps beside the freshest nests and near banana patches the bear appears to be using, with the hopes of more bear sightings in the future. Camera traps are one of our most valuable fieldwork tools, but they also require patience. On previous trips, several cameras produced thousands of images, but alas, they were mostly of moving grass, empty forest, or the occasional peafowl!

Even if we do not, the information gathered during this trip is already shaping how we approach future monitoring in the area.

Fieldwork like this rarely delivers instant answers. Instead, it adds pieces to a much larger puzzle: one that helps us make better, more informed decisions for bears, people, and the landscapes they share.

This kind of field research is a core part of Free the Bears’ mission to protect threatened bears in Asia. By understanding where bears persist, how they move through human-dominated landscapes, and what threats they face, we can support governments and communities to protect critical habitats and reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Our research programme also helps identify areas that could one day support the safe release of rehabilitated bears. Specialised pre-release facilities are already being developed and tested so suitable candidates can return to the wild when conditions allow.

Today, Free the Bears operates the largest bear sanctuary network in Southeast Asia. But sanctuary is only one piece of the puzzle. Through partnerships with governments, universities and conservation networks, we are working to prevent bears from being taken from the forest at all.

Because ultimately, the future of bears depends not only on the ones we rescue, but on protecting the wild places where they belong.