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‘Extreme intervention’ needed to save last remaining Sumatran rhinos: Conservationists
Fewer than 80 individuals are left in the wild.
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A Sumatran rhinoceros. (Shutterstock/Handoko Ramawidjaya Bumi)
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s the Sumatran rhinoceros inches closer to extinction, conservationists have called for serious intervention to restore a viable wild population. The proposed efforts include a captive breeding program for the solitary creatures.
Sumatran rhinos, the smallest living rhinos and the only Asian rhinos with two horns, are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In the Malaysian section of Borneo, one of the historic habitats of Sumatran rhinos, the species was declared extinct last year.
The remaining population is small and dispersed, with fewer than 80 rhinos spread across three habitats in Sumatra and one habitat in East Kalimantan, according to an estimate by the Environment and Forestry Ministry. The largest population is thought to be at Gunung Leuser National Park in Aceh.
In the past, Sumatran rhinos were also found on the Malayan Peninsula and in parts of what are now Thailand, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.
Read also: Only a dozen Sumatran rhinos left in East Kalimantan, experts believe
“They used to be everywhere, but now they are fragmented into the remaining four population pockets [in Sumatra and Kalimantan]," Rudi Putra from the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) said at a discussion to commemorate World Rhino Day on Tuesday.
"Only one of the four groups was found to be breeding – the one in Leuser,” Rudi said.
