Each of these samples were then analyzed in Canada at Queen's University. We then had to repeat this for the dead rhino material. First we had to get permission to export and import all the dung that we collected during the rhino surveys. This was a complicated process working with genetic material that is the property of Vietnam so we had to go through due process. Why did it take so long to get the genetic test results? I covered the news of the death of this rhino in May of last year. Barney Long, WWF's Asian species expert, for some additional information on the Javan rhino, which came in after this story was first published. WWF is also calling for increased efforts to protect the last Javan rhinos in Indonesia, before they, too, are also poached into extinction. The report blames "poor protection and law enforcement efforts and ineffective protected area management" and warns that "Vietnam is on the verge of an extinction crisis with many other species threatened by hunting and habitat loss." WWF is calling for improved law enforcement and management of key habitats "to ensure that other species do not share the same fate as the Javan rhinoceros." More specifically, said Nick Cox, manager of WWF's Species Programme in the Greater Mekong, "Vietnam's protected areas need more rangers, better training and monitoring, and more accountability." sondaicus annamiticus-Cat Tien National Park-a WWF report released today ( pdf) on the rhino's extinction says insufficient measures were taken to protect those few surviving rhinos from poachers who sought their valuable horns. Since then, camera traps only captured a few images of the rhinos and the only time scientists actually laid eyes on one was the de-horned corpse found last year.ĭespite the millions of dollars of international conservation funds poured into what was thought to be the last hold-out in Vietnam for R. The Vietnam Java rhino was actually thought extinct for more than 50 years, but it was rediscovered in 1988 when a single animal was killed by hunters. Vietnam has lost part of its natural heritage." "It is painful that despite significant investment in the Vietnamese rhino population conservation efforts failed to save this unique animal. "The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone," Tran Thi Minh Hien, WWF-Vietnam country director, said in a prepared statement. Genetic analysis of 22 dung samples collected by a WWF survey team in 20 reveals that they were all from a single rhino-the same one shot by poachers last year. Now it seems that already low estimate was too optimistic. At the time, scientists estimated that there might have been up to eight of these elusive, rarely photographed rhinos left in Vietnam. ![]() What is now known to have been the last Vietnam Javan rhino (the subspecies's official name) was killed by poachers in April 2010. In addition, there are two African rhino species: the white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum)-which includes the southern white rhino (the healthiest rhino subspecies, with more than 17,000 animals) and the northern white rhino, which is now down to its last seven individuals-and the black rhino ( Diceros bicornis), with three critically endangered subspecies (two of which are below 1,000 individuals) and a fourth subspecies that was last seen in the year 2000 and is now believed to be extinct. A third Sumatran rhino subspecies may or may not still exist. There are two other Asian rhino species: the one-horned Indian rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros unicornis), which numbers about 3,000 animals in the wild, and the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros ( Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), which has two subspecies with a combined population of less than 300 individuals. ![]() Just 50 or fewer of these animals are thought to exist in Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java.Īll rhino species worldwide are heavily threatened by rampant poaching for their horns, which are sold for upward of $30,000 each for use in so-called traditional Asian medicine, even though they are of no actual medicinal value. sondaicus sondaicus) remains alive, and it might not last much longer either. sondaicus inermis), disappeared more than a century ago. The first, the Indian Javan rhinoceros ( R. This is the second of the three Javan rhino subspecies to be hunted into extinction. There are now officially no rhinos left in Vietnam. Sad news coming out of Vietnam today: the Javan rhinoceros subspecies ( Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus), once endemic to Southeast Asia, has been confirmed as extinct, according to WWF International.
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