Rhino Puntung: a wave of hope for the WAZA-branded project in Malaysia
Date: 2012/01/25
Joint efforts for the critically endangered Sabah Rhino.
In late December 2011 a female Sabah rhino, Puntung, has been captured and transported to the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary breeding centre.
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WAZA has branded the Sabah Rhino conservation project to establish a conservation and research sanctuary for Sabah rhinos in Malaysia, a critically endangered species. This project is jointly implemented by the State Government of Sabah (Sabah Wildlife Department), WAZA member Leipzig Zoo and Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin. Other stakeholders involved in the project include the Sime Darby Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, NGOs such as the Borneo Rhino Alliance, the Rhino and Forest Fund and WWF Germany, and dan pearlman.
Three species of rhinoceros are native to Asia: the Indian rhino, Javan rhino and Sumatran rhino. All of them are severely threatened with extinction.
The Sabah rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni) is a sub-species of the Sumatran rhino. This sub-species is under severe pressure as its habitat, the lowland rainforest, is being converted into oil palm plantations. About 30-50 individuals have survived in two protected areas in Sabah (Borneo), with a few dispersed animals still occurring in isolated patches of rainforest.
The State Government of Sabah has set up a breeding centre in order to keep and breed Sabah rhinos caught in isolated forest patches. If breeding is successful, offspring may be released into the reserves. Methods of assisted reproduction will be applied if natural breeding is not successful in order to increase breeding success.
The objectives of this programme are to:
- establish numbers and distribution of Sabah rhinos in the wild;
- catch and breed isolated individuals in the breeding centre;
- train local keepers and learn more about the conditions how they can be kept and bred successfully;
- adopt methods of assisted reproduction already used for rhinos in zoos to wild living Sabah rhinos if natural breeding is not possible;
- implement a reintroduction programme after successful breeding;
- create awareness in Sabah and Europe for the Sabah rhino and the situation of the lowland rainforest;
- start a reforestation project.