Female Sumatran Rhino Spotted After 40 Years Dies In Just A Few Weeks
After having been spotted for the first time in 40 years, a Sumatran female rhino died, according to conservationists.
The World Wildlife Fund has long believed that Sumatran rhinos are still existing. Conservationists found footprints of 15 rhinos in the area and captured one set of footprints on film. However, the species is critically endangered, with just about 100 rhinos left, said the International Rhino Foundation.
Experts found a Sumatran rhino last month and rejoiced that they had established physical contact with a four-or-five-year-old female, who was captured in Kutai Barat while there were plans to shift her to a protected forest almost 90 miles further away.
"We will now strengthen our efforts to protect this extraordinary species," Efransjah of World Wildlife Fund said after the animal was discovered.
She had been caught in a pit trap last month. It was the first time in 40 years that she was seen in Kalimantan, the Indonesia part of Borneo. But after raising hopes that the species still roams the forests, the female's death has thrown a damper on expectations.
Sumatran rhinos are among two rhino species in Indonesia. The other species is the Javan rhino, which is also threatened by poachers for its horn, as well as endangered due to habitat loss.
It is not really clear what has killed the particular rhino. But conservationists suspect that she was suffering from an infection due to earlier snares by a poaching attempt.
Carlos Drews, director of the WWF International Global Species programme, said: "WWF is saddened by the news of the death of the Sumatran rhino found in Kalimantan. The hope we felt a few days ago was in celebration of the first live sighting of a rhino that was thought to be extinct in the Indonesian part of Borneo until recent surveys revealed footprints of this unique species.
