THE government is racing to capture the last-known Bornean rhino in the wild in a bid to preserve the species through in-vitro fertilisation, a government official said.
Just two Bornean rhinos are known to exist in the world, both female: Pahu in Indonesia’s Kelian rhino sanctuary, and Pari, living wild in Kutai Kartanegara regency.
Bornean rhinos are a subspecies of Sumatran rhinos, and officials believe they are close enough to interbreed and preserve some genetic heritage from the Bornean line.
Conservationists previously tried to extract eggs from Pahu for the process.
But she is around 40 and has various health problems, so the process has been unsuccessful so far, said Ari Wibawanto, head of the provincial conservation agency in East Kalimantan, where both Kelian and Kutai Kartanegara are located.
The last hope lies with Pari, who appears younger than Pahu in images captured by monitoring cameras.
Conservationists have spent months preparing the capture, installing pit traps and even carrying out test runs.
“We carried out several simulations using cattle that are rsoughly the same size as Pari,” Ari said yesterday.
Rhino translocations are a risky process and have ended in disaster in Indonesia in the past.
Last year, a Javan rhino died shortly after a world-first translocation for the species, apparently due to pre-existing conditions. In 2016, a female Sumatran rhino died after relocation because of an injury previously sustained from a poaching trap.
Ari said a dedicated team has been working on making the capture and relocation as smooth as possible.
“We strengthened our procedures to make sure they don’t cause technical problems, health issues or behavioural issues, so the animal doesn’t get stressed,” he said.
Once secured, Pari will be airlifted to a facility for monitoring before egg extraction. Fewer than 50 individuals each from the Javan and Sumatran rhino species are believed to exist in the wild, all of them in Indonesia, according to the International Rhino Foundation. — AFP
