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Ministry to investigate claims of 26 Javan rhinos killed by poachers
The police in Banten recently arrested 13 poachers who later claimed to have killed up to 26 critically endangered Javan rhinos in or around the Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten.
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This handout still image taken from video footage on May 22, 2020 and released by the Environment and Forestry Ministry on Sept. 20, 2020 shows a male Javan rhinoceros calf named Luther (left) in Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten. (AFP/Handout/Environment and Forestry Ministry )
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he Environment and Forestry Ministry is planning to investigate the reported deaths of 26 critically endangered Javan rhinoceroses as a result of poaching at Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten to verify the actual number of fatalities.
In late May, Banten Police arrested 13 individuals for their alleged involvement in rhino poaching within the national park area. The suspects later testified to the police that they had killed up to 26 Javan rhinos to take their horns and sell them on the international black market.
Aside from arresting the suspects, the police also confiscated rhino horn intended to be sold to China. Javan rhinos are often targeted by poachers for their horns, which is commonly seen as a highly prized cosmetic or traditional medicine.
A team under the national park management is working together with Banten Police investigators to map out the location where the suspects hunted and buried the rhinos’ bones based on their statements.
“We still need to investigate it further and confirm the actual number by looking for the remains of the hunted rhinos,” said Satyawan Pudyatmoko, the ministry’s natural resources and ecosystem conservation director general, on Tuesday, as quoted by tempo.co.
Read also: Rare Javan rhino calf spotted in Ujung Kulon
The Javan rhinoceros is an endemic Indonesian animal that only lives in Ujung Kulon National Park. There are only around 80 individuals left in the park, with the herds that lived across northeast India and the rest of Southeast Asia having long gone extinct, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
