Several leading scientists and experts have declared that the wild Sumatran rhino is extinct in Malaysia—a fact they hope will catalyze conservation efforts to save the remaining few.
The University of Copenhagen—along with partners that include WWF, the International Rhino Foundation, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature—made the call. As of 2007, only two female Sumatran rhinos have been seen in Malaysia, despite intensive efforts to locate others.
These two were captured for breeding purposes—meaning wild Sumatran rhinos are now only found in Indonesia, and in numbers of 100 or fewer. Further, only nine of the rhinos exist in captivity, with just two females having reproduced in the past 15 years.
The numbers aren’t likely to spike any time soon, either. The authors fear that in the time it takes to develop the technology necessary to get the species to reproduce in captivity, the last few wild rhinos will have died. Sumatran rhinos—the smallest rhino species alive, and the closest living relative to wooly rhinos—are generally solitary creatures. With such low numbers, they are often too spread out to find each other.
Moreover, the species’ two horns are in high demand for medicinal uses in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and are considered valuable in the Middle East and North Africa, where they are often used as decorative knife handles. Unsurprisingly, poaching has had a significant impact on populations. The species is considered critically endangered.
Help!
Because of this, conservationists are calling for action. “The tiger in India was saved from extinction due to the direct intervention of Mrs. Gandhi, the then prime minister, who set up Project Tiger. A similar high level intervention by President Joko Widodo of Indonesia could help pull the Sumatran rhinos back from the brink,” said Christy Williams, co-author and coordinator of the WWF Asian and Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy, in a statement.
Widodo Ramono, co-author and Director of the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia (YABI), added, “Serious effort by the government of Indonesia should be put to strengthen rhino protection by creating Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ), intensive survey of the current known habitats, habitat management, captive breeding, and mobilizing national resources and support from related local governments and other stakeholders.”
The paper can found be online in Oryx.
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