Electric fence to help protect rare rhinos

JAKARTA (JP): A new breeding ground for rare Sumatra rhinos in Lampung will be enclosed by solar-powered, electric fences to keep the animals in and potential intruders out, Antara reported.

The fence will carry a voltage strong enough to provide instant "shock therapy" to the rhinos and intruders, the head of the Tanjungkarang Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Harjanto, was quoted as saying Saturday.

The breeding ground for the two-horned rhinos will be built on a 10-hectare plot in the Way Kambas National Park in Central Lampung.

Conservationists, both in Indonesia and overseas, are struggling to breed the rare rhinos, now estimated to number between 200 and 300.

They fear that the Sumatra rhino could go the same way as the one-horned Java rhino, whose population has slumped to a mere few dozen.

An attempt at captive breeding of the Sumatra rhino in London, using modern technology, failed recently and the four rhinos are to be sent back to Lampung in a renewed attempt to breed the species in its natural habitat.

The International Rhino Foundation, an American organization, is supporting the project to bring the rhinos back and is spending US$100 million on the effort, Harjanto said.

The foundation works in cooperation with the Ministry of Forestry, the Taman Safari Indonesia, and the Rhino Partnership Foundation.

Officials said their return was pending the completion of their new home in Way Kambas, which is expected at the end of the year.

Harjanto said he was hopeful that the effort to breed the rhino in its natural habitat would be successful.

"They may have used high-tech efforts in England, but this animal is very sensitive to human beings. In London, they tried to breed them in the zoo, which is very crowded," he said. (12)