Sumatran rhino on brink of extinction

Sumatran rhino on brink of extinction

BENGKULU, Bengkulu: An environmentalist warned on Monday that
unless adequate measures were taken, the Sumatran rhino, which
live in protected forests in Bengkulu province, would soon become
extinct.

The head of the Bengkulu provincial office of the Natural
Resources Conservation Board, Agus Priambudi, estimated the
number of Sumatran rhinos (dicerorhinus sumatrensis) living in
Bengkulu's protected forests at just 10 animals.

"Illegal hunting is considered to be one of the reasons for
the continued decline in the population of the Sumatran rhino,"
he said.

He further noted that only 50 Sumatran tigers (phantera tigris
sumatrae) continued to survive in Bengkulu's protected forests.

He said wealthy people frequently went to Bengkulu to hunt the
rhinos and tigers.

"They usually pay the locals a large sum of money to hunt
these beasts," Agus said.

To prevent poaching, he said, his office had intensified
efforts to patrol the habitat of the rhinos and tigers in
national parks in Semidang Bukit Kaba, southern Bengkulu, and
Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan, both in Rejang Lebong district.
--Antara