Unusual creature in Sarawak oil palm plantation scares workers
A team of Indonesian workers came across an unusual-looking creature crawling in an oil palm plantation in Sarawak on Friday.
A video of the undernourished, hairless animal was posted by local news site Borneo Post.
The video was widely circulated online, sparking further curiosity over what the clawed animal was and what it was doing in the plantation.
In the video, the dark-skinned creature crawls slowly crawls on all fours, and struggles to walk steadily.
“We were shocked. None of us has ever seen such thing. One of us then hit the animal until it appeared to have passed out,” a worker was quoted as saying.
According to the report, the worker hit the animal when it charged at them. After it regained consciousness, the workers forced it to return to the jungle.
Two days later, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation identified it as a sun bear from a nearby forest and said a recent flood had driven the animal to the plantation.
“Due to floods, our Swift Wildlife Action Team (SWAT) is unable to do any rescuing,” they said, adding that it is likely that the animal is sick, but they can only determine what is wrong if the animal is rescued and examined.
A sun bear lives in lowland forests in Southeast Asia, and is the smallest member of the bear family.
