WWF confirm Javan rhinoceros is extinct in Vietnam

Damn. :( :(
 
Another animal, after Javan Tiger, where one reason of extinction was consious decision not to preserve them in zoos.

There are conservationists who opposed captive breeding of Javan, Sumatran and Northern White rhinos. The fact is, that rhino protection in the wild requires preventing poaching every year for decades. This is simply not doable in most countries, thinking otherwise means ignoring socio-political reality.

For every rhino which died in a zoo without reproducing, I can give three wildlife reserves where whole population of rhinos was killed by poachers.
 
When they were rediscovered in Vietnam it cast another ray of hope for the species. But I don't know if this very tiny population, believed to be around 9-11 individuals when first re-discovered, was ever viable. With better protection perhaps but there was some doubt that there was any adult male in this population which would have doomed it anyway.

But its a very sorry tale nonetheless and I wonder if it may lead to further consideration about whether some individuals from the Udjong Kulon population should now be placed in captivity as a safeguard.
 
What a tradedy.

Taking them in captivity only makes sense if there is a chance that they`ll breed there. Given the extremely poor record of breeding sumatrans in captivity and that no zoo has the slightest bit of experience with breeding javan rhino, I`d say concentrate all the money a capture would cost on protecting Udjong Kulon (which, by the way, seems to be rather safe). I would be all for an emergency captive breeding program IF there were good or at least medium chances of getting the animals to breed - but all the experience that is there indicates it is very unlikely. The Northerrn whites would have been a different story, plenty of experience in captive breeding of white rhinos and with that reserve in Kenia there would have been an excellent, safe facility to take them.

From what I`ve read about the situation in Cat Tien, the main problem for researchers was that the area was so extremely unacessible that despite extensive efforts, they had pretty much no idea how many rhinos were there and estimates were very rough guesses at best. The area was so steep and overgrown with dense vegetation that even collecting of droppings was super difficult. With such a small population of a slow-reproducing species it is impossible to say if they had a chance with better protection... there is just too much left to chance if the numbers go down to less then a dozend (and I wonder of the first estimations were ever even remotely accurate).
 
Pertinax said:
When they were rediscovered in Vietnam it cast another ray of hope for the species. But I don't know if this very tiny population, believed to be around 9-11 individuals when first re-discovered, was ever viable. With better protection perhaps but there was some doubt that there was any adult male in this population which would have doomed it anyway.

But its a very sorry tale nonetheless and I wonder if it may lead to further consideration about whether some individuals from the Udjong Kulon population should now be placed in captivity as a safeguard.
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Ulysses Seal of ISIS argued that a proportion of the Ujung Kulon Javan population should have been taken into captivity some 25 years ago. His argument was that the reserve was fairly obviously at carrying capacity, and thus the total population couldn't grow unless animals were moved out of the reserve.

I'd like to think otherwise, but I really do think that we will lose both Javan and Sumatran rhinos. The space to conserve viable populations in the wild is fast disappearing, the traditional Oriental medical use of rhino horn (putting it as neutrally as possible) is so pervasive and the political will to confront these issues just doesn't seem sufficient.
 
Yassa said:
What a tradedy.

Taking them in captivity only makes sense if there is a chance that they`ll breed there. Given the extremely poor record of breeding sumatrans in captivity and that no zoo has the slightest bit of experience with breeding javan rhino, I`d say concentrate all the money a capture would cost on protecting Udjong Kulon (which, by the way, seems to be rather safe). I would be all for an emergency captive breeding program IF there were good or at least medium chances of getting the animals to breed - but all the experience that is there indicates it is very unlikely. The Northerrn whites would have been a different story, plenty of experience in captive breeding of white rhinos and with that reserve in Kenia there would have been an excellent, safe facility to take them.

From what I`ve read about the situation in Cat Tien, the main problem for researchers was that the area was so extremely unacessible that despite extensive efforts, they had pretty much no idea how many rhinos were there and estimates were very rough guesses at best. The area was so steep and overgrown with dense vegetation that even collecting of droppings was super difficult. With such a small population of a slow-reproducing species it is impossible to say if they had a chance with better protection... there is just too much left to chance if the numbers go down to less then a dozend (and I wonder of the first estimations were ever even remotely accurate).
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With respect, Ujung Kulon is NOT safe. It is perched on the edge of Krakatoa! Another tsunami nearby could well send a wave of refugees into the park. I am not being indifferent to potential human tragedy, but to have the entire population of an endangered animal in one place is too dangerous for words. Remember the Heath Hen....
 
As much as I would love to see javen rhino brought into captivity as a safe-guard, but we do not want the same disaster as what happened when sumatran rhino were brought into captivity. I think that now more than ever it is extremely important to safe guard the current population in the wild, and make attempts to maintain them in they're reserve. With the right protection, the wild population would start to increase. When it increases to about 200+ inderviduals ,Now would be the time to begin to build a captive safety net poulation. Bring 2-4 pairs into captivity and begin a breeding program and bringing the plight of the Javan rhino to public. Now this may take 25-30 or maybe even more years to complete, but I think it could work.

Out of interest, what zoo's do other forum members think it would be appropriate to send a pair too? Undoubtably singapore would try to exhibit them!
 
This really, really stinks.

Without necessarily trying to, I actually saw most (perhaps all) of the original sumatran rhinos brought into the country. I saw one (and then later a different one) at Los Angeles Zoo, one at San Diego Zoo, one at Bronx Zoo and one or two (I forget) at Cincinnati Zoo. In my completely amateur opinion, I think that program failed because they were put into very basic public enclosures with little or no vegetation (completely inappropriate for an animal plucked straight out of the rainforest). Also, in order to give every zoo that paid for the move a display animal, they were housed singly (except for Cincinnati). How does that promote a breeding program? They should have all been put in one private breeding facility in a location similar to their homeland - someplace like Florida (which already has White Oak) or Louisiana (which already has Audubon Zoo's private facility).
 
Cat-Man said:
Out of interest, what zoo's do other forum members think it would be appropriate to send a pair too? Undoubtably singapore would try to exhibit them!
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It seems like a great deal of the criticism of the Sumatran rhino program was that all of the real focus was on building up the zoo population rather than conserving the wild population and habitat with anti-poaching patrols and habitat protection. There is a television program about this controversy which I used to show to the conservation biology class I taught. I think it was from the NOVA science television series. Does anybody else remember this program and the title?

The world did a lousy job of protecting the West African black rhino and northern white rhino.

I REALLY hate to think that the Javan rhino and Sumatran rhino are headed to extinction too, but short of a rhino-loving billionaire and/or a network of zoos working as partners with the Indonesian government to undertake a SUSTAINED massive habitat protection AND captive breeding program I don't see how that is going to be avoided.

Does anyone out there have any rosier projection about whether these species and their habitat will still be around in 30 years? As Fox Mulder of the X-Files says, I WANT TO BELIEVE.
 
Arizona Docent said:
This really, really stinks.

Without necessarily trying to, I actually saw most (perhaps all) of the original sumatran rhinos brought into the country. I saw one (and then later a different one) at Los Angeles Zoo, one at San Diego Zoo, one at Bronx Zoo and one or two (I forget) at Cincinnati Zoo. In my completely amateur opinion, I think that program failed because they were put into very basic public enclosures with little or no vegetation (completely inappropriate for an animal plucked straight out of the rainforest). Also, in order to give every zoo that paid for the move a display animal, they were housed singly (except for Cincinnati). How does that promote a breeding program? They should have all been put in one private breeding facility in a location similar to their homeland - someplace like Florida (which already has White Oak) or Louisiana (which already has Audubon Zoo's private facility).
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Interesting comments. I must admit when I went to San Diego in early 1999, I was taken aback by the size of the yard (which is what it was) where the Sumatran rhino had apparently been kept.

I've always thought, too, that the reliance upon pit-traps as a method of capture didn't help. Even if rhinos didn't sustain injuries in being captured, it was a completely random method of rounding up animals. It couldn't focus on bringing in youngsters likely to adapt better to new surroundings and (hopefully) more likely to breed.

Port Lympne may well have failed with Sumatran rhino anyway, but it didn't help that both of the females allocated to it were elderly and past breeding age.

Another, unpalatable, thought: uninspiring though the results of the US/Aspinall programme have been to date, I wonder how they compare with the earlier stages of acclimatising great apes, snow leopards or okapi? All were accompanied by dire breeding returns per animal importations.
 
Arizona Docent, you are a VERY lucky man indeed.
David, thankyou for telling me about the video. Does anyone know where I can find a list of all zoo's tha received rhino? How's the status with sumatran rhino in the wild now. What's happened with the breeding programme in the US tho? Are they going to send a female to white oak?

I agree with you docent. Initially, until a suitible breeding prgramme can be 'built up' they should be kept in Florida, in places like white oak, and maybe another floridian zoo that could put them on public display(Disney's Animal Kingdom, Miami Metro Zoo, Lowry Park zoo, jacksonville zoo?), then when it is right they could, carefully selecting the best aplicants, them to other zoo's, such as california, and maybe port lympne. Opinions?
 
I think it is worth noting that, at least according to my understanding, Javan rhino have many similarities with Indian/Asian greater one-horned rhino, more so than they do with Sumatrans and given the widespread zoo experience with that species (Indian/Asian greater one-horned) and learning the mistakes of the Sumatran programme perhaps an initiative to take some Javans into captivity could be more successful than we might expect.
 
Shirokuma said:
I think it is worth noting that, at least according to my understanding, Javan rhino have many similarities with Indian/Asian greater one-horned rhino, more so than they do with Sumatrans and given the widespread zoo experience with that species (Indian/Asian greater one-horned) and learning the mistakes of the Sumatran programme perhaps an initiative to take some Javans into captivity could be more successful than we might expect.
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Is anybody here part of the rhino conservation community? Are there any serious plans to try and establish any kind of breeding program for the Javan rhinos?

The case studies of the California condor and black-footed ferret show that rescue efforts for severely endangered species can work in practice by combining captive breeding and habitat protection/restoration. But can it work in a developing country with a far flung network of collaborators in a depressed economy?
 
My opinions:
1) Sumatran rhino, being a browser and not closely related to other rhinos, is not a good model for Javan rhino. Nevertheless, its captive keeping and breeding WAS finally cracked, and the last female raised 3 healthy young.

2) Javan Rhino is very closely related to Indian Rhino which is breeding well in captivity. It is also believed to be a grazer, only recently pushed to inappropriate habitat of thick rainforest, because of hunting. Its breeding will likely be much more succesful.

3) In situ protection of rhinos requires high organization: efficient administration, low corruption, good security etc. Much as I like SE Asia, their governments are still not at it. Controlling poaching and habitat loss was not done for decades, and are likely not doable for the next decades. One could hope that public services in SE Asian quickly change (politically extremely unlikely), or accept the reality and act according to it.
 
Jurek7 said:
My opinions:
1) Sumatran rhino, being a browser and not closely related to other rhinos, is not a good model for Javan rhino. Nevertheless, its captive keeping and breeding WAS finally cracked, and the last female raised 3 healthy young.

2) Javan Rhino is very closely related to Indian Rhino which is breeding well in captivity. It is also believed to be a grazer, only recently pushed to inappropriate habitat of thick rainforest, because of hunting. Its breeding will likely be much more succesful.

3) In situ protection of rhinos requires high organization: efficient administration, low corruption, good security etc. Much as I like SE Asia, their governments are still not at it. Controlling poaching and habitat loss was not done for decades, and are likely not doable for the next decades. One could hope that public services in SE Asian quickly change (politically extremely unlikely), or accept the reality and act according to it.
Click to expand...

Very succinctly put, IMO.

With regard to Javan rhino dietary preferences, it should be remembered that when the British ruled Java (under Stamford Raffles, founder of ZSL!) in the early 19th century, a bounty was being paid ion these animals for their raids on rice crops. This would not have been the activity of a browsing animal.
 
Jurek7 said:
My opinions:

3) In situ protection of rhinos requires high organization: efficient administration, low corruption, good security etc. Much as I like SE Asia, their governments are still not at it. Controlling poaching and habitat loss was not done for decades, and are likely not doable for the next decades. One could hope that public services in SE Asian quickly change (politically extremely unlikely), or accept the reality and act according to it.
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It sounds like you know SE Asia Jurek7 and have a realistic appraisal of habitat protection. Assuming that you could gather the facilities and political will to start a Javan rhino breeding program, how would you do it?

IS anybody doing it? It sounds like there is absolutely no time to waste if this is really the only solution for their survival. Will anybody step up and do it do you think, if they are not already?
 
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