Sumatran rhinos wait for helping hand

Sumatran rhinos wait for helping hand

Bambang Parlupi, Contributor, Lampung

Out of five remaining species of rhinos left in the world,
Indonesia is home to two -- the Javanese and Sumatran rhinos.

These two rare species of rhinos -- the Javanese rhino
(Rhinoceros sondaicus) which has a single horn and the Sumatran
rhino (Dicerhirhinus sumatrensis) which has two horns -- are
known as key species in the conservation of nature diversity as
their survival assures the protection of other wildlife. But at
present, the survival of these protected herbivores is at stake.

"Of all other rhinos, the Sumatran rhinos are now the most
threatened with extinction," said Marchellus Adi CRT of the
Sumatran Rhino Reserve Foundation.

The veterinarian, better known as Marcell, said the population
of rhinos in the wild had declined fast in the past decade.

The Javanese rhinos are found in Ujung Kulon National Park in
Banten province, while the Sumatran rhinos roam the Sumatran
jungles. Groups of wild Sumatran rhinos are often spotted in
several national parks in Sumatra, like Mount Leuser National
Park and Kerinci Seblat National Park.

Their precise numbers, are not known but it is estimated there
are between 200 and 300 Sumatran rhinos left in the wild,
scattered in protected forests from Lampung to Aceh.
It is also estimated that groups of Sumatran rhinos are found in
Sarawak, Sabah (in Malaysia) and the central part of Kalimantan.

Marcell said the decline in the rhinos population in the wild
was due to a number of factors like forest fires, illegal
logging, nomadic farming and conversion of forest into human
settlement.

In some areas, rhinos are hunted.

In Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Lampung, for
example, a Sumatran rhino was recently found trapped by illegal
hunters in its natural habitat.

"These illegal hunters do not only use steel-wire traps but
also firearms."

Marcell said those hunters were hunting the rhino for their
horns.

"According to information, the price of horns on the black
market could reach US$20,000 per kilogram," said Marcell, the
foundation's site manager. Horns are then sold on the black
market as an ingredient in Chinese medicine.

In order to reduce the hunting of wild rhino and to monitor
their population, the government and several conservation
organizations set up the Rhino Protection Unit (RPU), a program
to protect Sumatran rhinos, in 1995. Three locations were
selected as the working area of RPU, namely Kerinci Seblat
National Park, South Bukit Barisan National Park and Way Kambas
National Park.

RPU member, Bambang Subiyanto, said his job was to patrol his
working area, monitor the population of rhinos and their habitat,
and to prevent hunting.

"We are concerned not only with rhinos. We will arrest anybody
who is caught hunting or violating regulations within the nature
conservation areas," said Bambang, whose working area as a forest
ranger covers Way Kambas National Park, Lampung.

In Way Kambas, for example, dozens of armed men were nabbed in
February while hunting. "Although we caught them with only a few
hunted deer, they could always hunt other animals like rhinos or
tigers."

But at times, he said, there were problems when illegal
hunters were ready to resist when caught red-handed. Still, he
believes the patrol unit's presence helped reduce poaching. The
number of volunteers, however, was not sufficient compared to the
area they must monitor.

On the other hand, there are more people clearing the forest
either for plantations or settlement within the protected area,
thus threatening the survival of Sumatran rhinos in the wild.

"In Lampung alone groups of wild rhinos are often seen at the
edge of the forest and the community's plantations," said
Bambang, who has been working as a forest ranger since 1982.
"That opens up opportunities for poaching. The shrinking habitat
makes rhinos more visible."

Efforts to conserve Sumatran rhinos continue, including
breeding them outside their habitat. A captive breeding program
was conducted between 1986 and 1991 by capturing 18 Sumatran
rhinos from Indonesian forests. They were sent to various zoos in
the U.S., Britain, Malaysia and Indonesia. Unfortunately, between
1986 and 1997, 13 Sumatran rhinos died in captivity in the zoos
due to various reasons, like health and food problems.

In Indonesia, a special captive breeding project of Sumatran
rhinos was set up in 1997 located in their natural habitat in Way
Kambas National Park and managed by SRS. In this location, human
intervention is limited. Each rhino has its own area, separated
from the areas of other rhinos, given that a rhino is a solitary
animal.

In the 100-hectare plot of land, there used to be three
rhinos: a male rhino that once stayed in Howletts Zoo, Britain,
and two females one previously kept at Taman Safari park in
Bogor, West Java and the other in Malaysia.

However, only the male rhino and one female rhino are left
now. One of the females died some time ago. The two remaining
rhinos are still under study, with hopes they will produce
offspring.