Poachers kill world's rarest rhino in Vietnam
Jeremy Hancemongabay.com
May 11, 2010
"This is devastating news for rhino conservation and Vietnam," Dung Huynh Tien, National Policy Coordinator of WWF Vietnam, said in a news report. "The loss of this rhino is symbolic of the grim situation facing endangered species like the rhino and tiger across Vietnam."
Although the Javan rhinoceros once occurred across Southeast Asia (including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and maybe even Southern China) and Indonesian islands like Sumatra and Java, today the rhino survives in only two places: Java and Vietnam. The larger population is in Java. Researchers don't know how many rhinos survive in Vietnam, but it may be as few as six.
The killed rhino also represents a unique subspecies (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) from the Javan population. Already one of the Javan rhino's subspecies, once present in India, went extinct in the early Twentieth Century. There are no Javan rhinos in captivity.
Researchers with WWF have recently carried out a survey of this especially tenuous population of rhinos in Vietnam, though their results are awaiting DNA analysis.
Rhino poaching has risen steadily recently both in Africa and Asia, hitting a 15-year-high in 2009. Rhinos are killed for their horns which are used in Chinese medicines as a curative, although there is no scientific evidence that the horns are effective. All of the world's five species of rhinos are currently threatened with extinction due to the black market trade in horns.
Javan rhino mother and calf in the wild. Video by WWF.
Related articles
Face-to-face with what may be the last of the world's smallest rhino, the Bornean rhinoceros
(12/01/2009) Nothing can really prepare a person for coming face-to-face with what may be the last of a species. I had known for a week that I would be fortunate enough to meet Tam. I'd heard stories of his gentle demeanor, discussed his current situation with experts, and read everything I could find about this surprising individual. But still, walking up to the pen where Tam stood contentedly pulling leaves from the hands of a local ranger, hearing him snort and whistle, watching as he rattled the bars with his blunted horn, I felt like I was walking into a place I wasn't meant to be. As though I was treading on his, Tam's space: entering into a cool deep forest where mud wallows and shadows still linger. This was Tam's world; or at least it should be.
In midst of poaching crisis, illegal rhino horn tops gold
(11/25/2009) Rhino poaching has hit a fifteen-year high, and the rising price for black-market rhino horn is likely the reason why. For the first time in a decade rhino horn is worth more than gold: a kilo of rhino horn is worth approximately 60,000 US dollars while gold is a little over 40,600 US dollars.
Rarest rhino caught on film wallowing in mud with calf
(03/06/2009) In a scene that appears out of an old jungle movie, The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has caught the world’s rarest rhino on film. With less than 60 Javan rhinos estimated to exist in the wild, it is one of the world’s most imperiled species.
