Wellington Zoo launches new behind the scenes sun bear experience.
Sasa the sun bear presses her gaping jaws against the mesh barrier and bares her teeth. Quickly and diligently, her keeper pushes a toothbrush through the bars and begins to clean.
This is not something the average visitor to Wellington Zoo would see if they stopped by Sasa's enclosure.
But behind the scenes in her den, lucky viewers can watch her keep up with her dental hygiene, gobble food out of a piece of fire hose, or stick her claws through the barrier - all from little more than an arm's length away.
Wellington Zoo carnivore keeper Amy Saunders prepares to undergo a training session with Sasa the sun bear. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
The fascinating insight into Sasa's daily activities is part of the zoo's new behind-the-scenes sun bear experience, which begins on Monday.
Up to two guests at a time can book a visit to Sasa's den and learn more from her keepers about her habits, while watching her interact with "enrichment" and undergo training for medical checks.
"Bears are super inquisitive animals," said carnivore keeper Amy Saunders. She and fellow keeper Anders Muller will hide enrichment items - scents, snacks, branches and other things - in the den for Sasa to discover, eat, play with, and build nests with.
When the grate separating the den from Sasa's outdoor enclosure rolls up, she is already waiting on the other side and is quickly on the hunt for the enrichment.
Guests can pick a piece of enrichment to roll under the barrier for her. Today it's a bamboo tube stuffed with kibble and banana, which she rips open with ease.
Another is a rolled-up piece of fire hose with more food inside, which Sasa pulls open with all four paws. She rocks onto her back and tips the kibble onto her stomach, eating the food off her stomach.
"Enrichment is just encouraging them to use some of their natural instinctive behaviours," Muller said.
The 14-year-old bear, born in captivity, lived until recently with her father Sean, who was rescued from Cambodia, where a businessman found him chained outside a shop and whisked him away on the back of a motorcycle.
Sean was one of the first of hundreds of bears to be saved and rehomed by charitable wildlife protection group Free the Bears.
Sean died in 2018, leaving Sasa as the sole bear at Wellington Zoo - something which suits her solitary nature.
When she enters the den for training, guests will be allowed to take photos on their phones from behind a yellow line, but while her training session is underway it's important not to be a distraction with devices and questions.
Saunders kneels down close to the barrier and presses her first against it, saying "target" as Sasa touches her nose to the fist through the metal.
Other instructions include "paw", "tongue", "turn" and "touch", with Sasa following each command obediently in return for small bits of food.
Sasa rocks onto her back and tips kibble onto her stomach from an old piece of fire hose. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
She spreads her paws on the mesh and lets Saunders feel her claws and feet, she stands up and allows her stomach and chest to be prodded and checked, and she even allows a blunt syringe to be pressed against her haunches as part of "injection training".
She sticks her tongue through the barrier and wraps it around Saunders' outstretched finger, and on the command "wide" and "brush" she opens her mouth and lets Saunders give her teeth a quick clean.
"It's really important that we can have a look at what's going on," Saunders said.
The keepers cannot go into her enclosure to check if she has injuries, so training her to allow these checks is essential for her wellbeing.
Muller said the behind-the-scenes experiences would be on a day-by-day basis according to what Sasa wants. She is free to come and go from the den and does not have to do the training if she does not want to.
If that is the case, the keepers will provide more enrichment for her.
Bookings for the experience are available on the zoo's website from Monday onwards, at $159 per person. Ten per cent of the proceeds will go to the Wellington Zoo Conservation Fund.
