Flawed count puts ‘glorified’ Javan rhinos on path to extinction, report says

[UngulateNerd92]

• Javan rhinos, a critically endangered species found only in a single park in Indonesia, may be on a population decline that could see the species go extinct within a decade, a new report warns.

• The report highlights questionable practices in the Indonesian government’s official population count, which has shown a steady increase in rhino numbers since 2011.

• Notably, the official count includes rhinos that haven’t been spotted or recorded on camera traps in years; at least three of these animals are known to have died since 2019.

• The report, by environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara, also highlights an increase in reported poaching activity in Ujung Kulon National Park, and a general lack of official transparency that’s common to conservation programs for other iconic species such as Sumatran rhinos and orangutans.

Every time a new Javan rhino calf is spotted, Indonesia’s environmental authorities issue an update of the precise population number for the near-extinct species. The rhino’s entire population is confined to a single national park, filled with hundreds of camera traps that allow conservationists to monitor sightings of known, named adult rhinos as well as any new births. Since 2011, when officials started installing the camera traps, the government has reported steady growth from 35 to 72 individual Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus).

According to a new investigative report, however, the seeming precision of these numbers belies serious problems with transparency, poor management of the species, and indications that the population may in fact be declining.

Among the key revelations in the report published April 11 by Indonesian nonprofit environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara is that 18 rhinos (nine females and nine males) that have not been spotted alive for years (some since 2019) are still included in the most recent population counts.

Further investigation by Auriga Nusantara found that three of these 18 “missing” rhinos have died: one female in 2019 and a female and a male in 2021. None of these missing and dead Javan rhinos were publicly announced by either the agency that manages Ujung Kulon National Park or the Indonesian environment ministry. By contrast, the government has regularly publicized news of Javan rhino births, signaling a stable population growth.

“It’s an unfair glorification from the government for not publishing these losses as well,” Timer Manurung, the founder and director of Auriga Nusantara and lead author of the report, told Mongabay in an exclusive interview on April 7. “There’s a political factor at play, especially when the environment ministry has a population increase target for priority species like the Javan rhinos.”

Flawed count puts ‘glorified’ Javan rhinos on path to extinction, report says

 

[wild boar]

• Javan rhinos, a critically endangered species found only in a single park in Indonesia, may be on a population decline that could see the species go extinct within a decade, a new report warns.

• The report highlights questionable practices in the Indonesian government’s official population count, which has shown a steady increase in rhino numbers since 2011.

• Notably, the official count includes rhinos that haven’t been spotted or recorded on camera traps in years; at least three of these animals are known to have died since 2019.

• The report, by environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara, also highlights an increase in reported poaching activity in Ujung Kulon National Park, and a general lack of official transparency that’s common to conservation programs for other iconic species such as Sumatran rhinos and orangutans.

Every time a new Javan rhino calf is spotted, Indonesia’s environmental authorities issue an update of the precise population number for the near-extinct species. The rhino’s entire population is confined to a single national park, filled with hundreds of camera traps that allow conservationists to monitor sightings of known, named adult rhinos as well as any new births. Since 2011, when officials started installing the camera traps, the government has reported steady growth from 35 to 72 individual Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus).

According to a new investigative report, however, the seeming precision of these numbers belies serious problems with transparency, poor management of the species, and indications that the population may in fact be declining.

Among the key revelations in the report published April 11 by Indonesian nonprofit environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara is that 18 rhinos (nine females and nine males) that have not been spotted alive for years (some since 2019) are still included in the most recent population counts.

Further investigation by Auriga Nusantara found that three of these 18 “missing” rhinos have died: one female in 2019 and a female and a male in 2021. None of these missing and dead Javan rhinos were publicly announced by either the agency that manages Ujung Kulon National Park or the Indonesian environment ministry. By contrast, the government has regularly publicized news of Javan rhino births, signaling a stable population growth.

“It’s an unfair glorification from the government for not publishing these losses as well,” Timer Manurung, the founder and director of Auriga Nusantara and lead author of the report, told Mongabay in an exclusive interview on April 7. “There’s a political factor at play, especially when the environment ministry has a population increase target for priority species like the Javan rhinos.”

Flawed count puts ‘glorified’ Javan rhinos on path to extinction, report says

There's another tragic update on the Javan rhinoceros population: it is estimated that approximately one tenth of population was poached between 2019 and 2023. Four people, one of whom was arrested, are supposedly responsible. Two others have been arrested for trafficking body parts. I am both devastated and infuriated by this news.

Javan rhinos poached in Ujung Kulon | News | Save the Rhino

 

[UngulateNerd92]

There's another tragic update on the Javan rhinoceros population: it is estimated that approximately one tenth of population was poached between 2019 and 2023. Four people, one of whom was arrested, are supposedly responsible. Two others have been arrested for trafficking body parts. I am both devastated and infuriated by this news.

Javan rhinos poached in Ujung Kulon | News | Save the Rhino

That is deeply devastating!

 

[Zorro]

That is deeply devastating!

Very sad news indeed @Kifaru Bwana

 

[JVM]

Thank you for the update. Awful, terrible news, but but also a good teaching moment for how fragile these small populations are. A tenth of the population!

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Thank you for the update. Awful, terrible news, but but also a good teaching moment for how fragile these small populations are. A tenth of the population!

I could not agree more! Unfortunately, sometimes we just have to chalk these things up to learning experiences. As the old saying goes, Mark Twain said, "No better lessons learned than holding the cat upside down by the tail", unfortunately, this often applies to biodiversity conservation as well.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

There's another tragic update on the Javan rhinoceros population: it is estimated that approximately one tenth of population was poached between 2019 and 2023. Four people, one of whom was arrested, are supposedly responsible. Two others have been arrested for trafficking body parts. I am both devastated and infuriated by this news.

Javan rhinos poached in Ujung Kulon | News | Save the Rhino

Here is another relevant article from Mongabay.

A single gang of poachers may have killed 10% of Javan rhinos since 2019

• A poaching case currently being heard in an Indonesian court has revealed that at least seven Javan rhinos were killed from 2019-2023 for their horns.

• The world’s sole remaining population of Javan rhinos lives in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, with official population estimates standing at around 70 individuals.

• A single suspect has been arrested and indicted in the case, with three alleged accomplices still at large.

• The revelation from the recent indictment raises questions about security at the park, most of which has been closed off to the public since September 2023 over poaching concerns.

It was news that rhino conservationists had long feared. Indonesian media are reporting that a poaching ring allegedly killed seven Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus), and possibly more, from 2019-2023, potentially wiping out 10% of the entire global population of the critically endangered species.

Ardi Andono, the head of the government agency that runs Ujung Kulon National Park, told local media his office had not yet confirmed how many rhinos were killed, pending ongoing investigation of body parts seized from the sole suspect arrested to date.

The information came to light as the suspect, Sunendi, was indicted earlier this month in Pandeglang District Court, raising questions about the security — or lack thereof — in Ujung Kulon National Park, the last place on Earth home to Javan rhinos. Sunendi has been charged with poaching, illegal possession of firearms, and the theft of four camera traps.

A single gang of poachers may have killed 10% of Javan rhinos since 2019

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Here is another relevant article from Mongabay.

A single gang of poachers may have killed 10% of Javan rhinos since 2019

• A poaching case currently being heard in an Indonesian court has revealed that at least seven Javan rhinos were killed from 2019-2023 for their horns.

• The world’s sole remaining population of Javan rhinos lives in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, with official population estimates standing at around 70 individuals.

• A single suspect has been arrested and indicted in the case, with three alleged accomplices still at large.

• The revelation from the recent indictment raises questions about security at the park, most of which has been closed off to the public since September 2023 over poaching concerns.

It was news that rhino conservationists had long feared. Indonesian media are reporting that a poaching ring allegedly killed seven Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus), and possibly more, from 2019-2023, potentially wiping out 10% of the entire global population of the critically endangered species.

Ardi Andono, the head of the government agency that runs Ujung Kulon National Park, told local media his office had not yet confirmed how many rhinos were killed, pending ongoing investigation of body parts seized from the sole suspect arrested to date.

The information came to light as the suspect, Sunendi, was indicted earlier this month in Pandeglang District Court, raising questions about the security — or lack thereof — in Ujung Kulon National Park, the last place on Earth home to Javan rhinos. Sunendi has been charged with poaching, illegal possession of firearms, and the theft of four camera traps.

A single gang of poachers may have killed 10% of Javan rhinos since 2019

The worst conservation news for Asian rhinos we may have learned in recent years. This impacts the only population of Javan rhinos globally with no assurance population anywhere else - a conservation action much talked about in recent years.

There had been rumours previously that the estimated population of Javan rhinos may have been an over-estimate, but this has never been fully substantiated. I do hope the evidence gathered now from the single arrested suspect and new information from the investigation will get to the bottom of this.

I do hope that the central Ministry of the Environment in cooperation with the Justice Department and the national conservation authority BKDSA will look at the latest rhino poaching cases in Ujung Kulon increase sentencing and make an example of the criminal gang and all members of its operation, including middlemen and the financor and commisioning individuals will all be arrested and tried in the courts at a later date.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Very sad news indeed @Kifaru Bwana

@Zorro, indeed the worst conservation news about an high profile species of conservation concern coming from the RM Indonesia in recent years. Far worse, by comparison to orang utan spp., Sumatran tiger or Sumatran and Bornean elephant for example. The only population coming near to the Javan rhino (protected and monitored - I want to underline this - intensely by BKDSA and the special rhino patrol forces in the TN Ujung Kulon.

Pandeglang District centers on Mengger and Kabayan urban populations and the nearest larger settlements to TN Ujung Kulon. The estimated distance is around 70 - 100 KM from the nearest reception area in TN Ujung Kulon that is publicly reachable ....

The above invariably means there almost must have had some element of Govt. departemental conivance and corruption at the individual level to allow poachers to gaan the kind of access required to the protected area and engage in poaching activities and killing live and difficult to find Javan rhinos in the dense tropical rainforest that is TN Ujung Kulon and come out undetected with body parts and rhino horn from here.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

@Zorro, indeed the worst conservation news about an high profile species of conservation concern coming from the RM Indonesia in recent years. Far worse, by comparison to orang utan spp., Sumatran tiger or Sumatran and Bornean elephant for example. The only population coming near to the Javan rhino (protected and monitored - I want to underline this - intensely by BKDSA and the special rhino patrol forces in the TN Ujung Kulon.

Pandeglang District centers on Mengger and Kabayan urban populations and the nearest larger settlements to TN Ujung Kulon. The estimated distance is around 70 - 100 KM from the nearest reception area in TN Ujung Kulon that is publicly reachable ....

The above invariably means there almost must have had some element of Govt. departemental conivance and corruption at the individual level to allow poachers to gaan the kind of access required to the protected area and engage in poaching activities and killing live and difficult to find Javan rhinos in the dense tropical rainforest that is TN Ujung Kulon and come out undetected with body parts and rhino horn from here.

I should add that I know some of the staff involved in the Javan rhino conservation program and have the highest respect for their often difficult work and what their rhino protection ranger / special forces monitoring teams put in for effort and active anti-poaching and policing duties.

 

[Daubentoniidae]

Two Poaching Groups Confess to Killing 26 Javan Rhinos

Absolutely devastating news.

 

[Fallax]

Two Poaching Groups Confess to Killing 26 Javan Rhinos

Absolutely devastating news.

This is way higher than I expected and an absolutely massive setback for the species. Just horrible, and to think we were led into a false sense of security that the species was safe in this national park. What is to stop this from happening again? Who says there isn't even more poaching groups out there? A count on the population needs to be done ASAP and security measures need to be improved greatly otherwise its only a matter of time until the whole species is extinct.

 

[tigris115]

Oh ****.

Tbh, I feel there's a point where, unless these people do serious intervention, the two Indonesian rhinos are already extinct.

At this point, the Indonesian government has shown nothing but gross incompetence and apathy for these animals and now they're going to reap what they sow.

 

[Don Majeski]

Oh ****.

Tbh, I feel there's a point where, unless these people do serious intervention, the two Indonesian rhinos are already extinct.

At this point, the Indonesian government has shown nothing but gross incompetence and apathy for these animals and now they're going to reap what they sow.

When it

Oh ****.

Tbh, I feel there's a point where, unless these people do serious intervention, the two Indonesian rhinos are already extinct.

At this point, the Indonesian government has shown nothing but gross incompetence and apathy for these animals and now they're going to reap what they sow.

When it was first revealed the a relict population of R. Sondaicus Annamiticus was rediscovered in Viet Nam my immediate reaction - aside from the astonishment at such a discovery (Tantamount to ding a mastodon roaming around Central Park) was that there must - immediately !- be an undertaking to capture all living specimens and , immediately , put them in to an ex situ breeding program.
Vietnam Nam has among the most corrupt societys in human history.
It is a totally monetized society that puts a value on everything -drugs, human life -anything, everything .
For a fraction of exorbitant extortion paid to the Chinese government to exhibit want amounts to a glorified side show attraction in Giant Panda this subspecies could have been saved . It was not.
There was a valiant effort made to breed
D.sumatrensis ex situ. If failed but should have been repeated with the knowledge that was gained. It was not.
Now they are on the very brink of exterpation.
Now we have the last , dwindling, population - inexorably headed towards extinction- of Javan rhino facing the same fate.
Millions and millions and millions are spent to “rent” Pandas .
Fine.
Can we not spend $10,000,000 to purchase 4 breeding groups of Javan rhino
There is no time left. We begin an ex situ program for Javan - a species (,R. Unicornis), , of which, affluent, Western zoos, have had great success in breeding- and the Indonesians whatever necessary to accomplish this
The Javan rhino is far closer to extinction than Giant Panda
This is similar to the case of the California condor, black footed ferret and Arabian oryx
Not time time to waste . No money to spare!

 

[Don Majeski]

When it

When it was first revealed the a relict population of R. Sondaicus Annamiticus was rediscovered in Viet Nam my immediate reaction - aside from the astonishment at such a discovery (Tantamount to ding a mastodon roaming around Central Park) was that there must - immediately !- be an undertaking to capture all living specimens and , immediately , put them in to an ex situ breeding program.
Vietnam Nam has among the most corrupt societys in human history.
It is a totally monetized society that puts a value on everything -drugs, human life -anything, everything .
For a fraction of exorbitant extortion paid to the Chinese government to exhibit want amounts to a glorified side show attraction in Giant Panda this subspecies could have been saved . It was not.
There was a valiant effort made to breed
D.sumatrensis ex situ. If failed but should have been repeated with the knowledge that was gained. It was not.
Now they are on the very brink of exterpation.
Now we have the last , dwindling, population - inexorably headed towards extinction- of Javan rhino facing the same fate.
Millions and millions and millions are spent to “rent” Pandas .
Fine.
Can we not spend $10,000,000 to purchase 4 breeding groups of Javan rhino
There is no time left. We begin an ex situ program for Javan - a species (,R. Unicornis), , of which, affluent, Western zoos, have had great success in breeding- and the Indonesians whatever necessary to accomplish this
The Javan rhino is far closer to extinction than Giant Panda
This is similar to the case of the California condor, black footed ferret and Arabian oryx
Not time time to waste . No money to spare!

Without immediate intervention this species is gone
We have learned a great deal about the husbandry of D. sumatrensis - no longer extent in Sumatra, by the way - since the experiment of thirty years ago and would have a better chance of success.
C.sinum is one of the most successfully bred of all megafauna and there was no reason that Nile rhino could not have had the same success.
I blame the zoological community for its extinction -as I do the demise of Annamiticus.
Now we can save the two remaining species of Indonesian rhino but we must save the Indonesians from themselves first

 

[JVM]

I'm sure that a wiser zoochat member will drop some science on me later and tomorrow I'll regret this, but right now, my thought is this sounds like a confirmation the animals might be better off in an ex-situ program.

The entirety of the global population has been confined to this park, which we are now finding has been completely unsafe for some time, and monitored poorly enough that a third of a global population was eliminated under people's noses.

 

[Daubentoniidae]

How closely related is the Javan rhino to the Indian rhino? Would it ever be possible to be able to artificially inseminate a surrogate Indian female with a Javan embryo and boost the population like that? Just since they want to try that with the northern white rhino DNA and southern white rhino host wouldn't that make sense?

Edit: Also the massive population drop revealed from the information in that article is truly tragic, I just hope the rhinos are able to recover, ditto the Sumatran rhinos otherwise they'll all end up extinct.

 

[Don Majeski]

I'm sure that a wiser zoochat member will drop some science on me later and tomorrow I'll regret this, but right now, my thought is this sounds like a confirmation the animals might be better off in an ex-situ program.

The entirety of the global population has been confined to this park, which we are now finding has been completely unsafe for some time, and monitored poorly enough that a third of a global population was eliminated under people's noses.

Add to that the fact Udjung Kulon lied on a volcanic fault line right in the middle of the “Ring of Fire”- one of the most seismically unstable areas on earth.
Is subject to rising seas.
Poachers run rife. Understaffed and underfunded at the whim of a corrupt government , rife with inbreeding .
For years the Indonesians have discussed - and denied - proposed INTERNAL translocation .
A total recipe for disaster.
Having the only population of R. Sondaicus remain only In Udjung Kulon is tantamount to moving the Mona Lisa from the Louvre to a burning building for safe keeping

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Two Poaching Groups Confess to Killing 26 Javan Rhinos

Absolutely devastating news.

Not that I am really surprised ...., but nonetheless the worst and most devastating news. It is incomprehensible how senior nature conservation management at the Ministry has been so lax in operational best practice that the monitoring and patrolling teams in situ within the national park are severely stretched to deal with adequately protecting the Taman Nasional.

Apart from the huge and painful loss of 26 out of potentially 70 Jawan rhinos nothing less but providing a complete paramilitary force to operate alongside the Ujung Kulon NP (Taman Nasional) wildlife monitoring and PA patrolling teams.

Further the judicial system - alike here in Europe - must be overhauled to deal with continued habitat encroachment, illegal park occupants and illegal activities like fire arms poaching, collusion of criminal networks with law enforcement and the setting of trans and other illegal hunting practices within the National Park will be dealt with harshly with these highly organised poaching syndicates and gangs.

It is imperative to raise the bar within the judicial system that average sentencing becomes more measured and in line with the crime, namely ecocide upon Indonesia's natural heritage. This highly organised form of wildlife poaching is not a sport for your average hunter and consequent being equal (when dealing with human to human) to manslaugher and homicide and sentencing should follow that line (making homicide sentence for 10 years the same as when it would be an animal or protected plant species as an effective - if draconian - deterrent to future candidate poachers, their networks or at the individual level.

We - as caretakes of our only Planet Earth .... have for far to long allowed human greed, lust for profit and economic growth that only benefits the rich, famous and shareholders and does nothing to make irresponsible behaviour as caretakers of Planet Earth that drive species, habitats and us mankind to fast on the road to the Sixth Species Extinction

 

[Don Majeski]

Not that I am really surprised ...., but nonetheless the worst and most devastating news. It is incomprehensible how senior nature conservation management at the Ministry has been so lax in operational best practice that the monitoring and patrolling teams in situ within the national park are severely stretched to deal with adequately protecting the Taman Nasional.

Apart from the huge and painful loss of 26 out of potentially 70 Jawan rhinos nothing less but providing a complete paramilitary force to operate alongside the Ujung Kulon NP (Taman Nasional) wildlife monitoring and PA patrolling teams.

Further the judicial system - alike here in Europe - must be overhauled to deal with continued habitat encroachment, illegal park occupants and illegal activities like fire arms poaching, collusion of criminal networks with law enforcement and the setting of trans and other illegal hunting practices within the National Park will be dealt with harshly with these highly organised poaching syndicates and gangs.

It is imperative to raise the bar within the judicial system that average sentencing becomes more measured and in line with the crime, namely ecocide upon Indonesia's natural heritage. This highly organised form of wildlife poaching is not a sport for your average hunter and consequent being equal (when dealing with human to human) to manslaugher and homicide and sentencing should follow that line (making homicide sentence for 10 years the same as when it would be an animal or protected plant species as an effective - if draconian - deterrent to future candidate poachers, their networks or at the individual level.

We - as caretakes of our only Planet Earth .... have for far to long allowed human greed, lust for profit and economic growth that only benefits the rich, famous and shareholders and does nothing to make irresponsible behaviour as caretakers of Planet Earth that drive species, habitats and us mankind to fast on the road to the Sixth Species Extinction

We are complicit in the extinction
of Annamiticus, Cottoni, Malaysia’s Sumatran rhino extirpation and, now, Ufjung Kulin’s last rhinos
A breeding population must be moved and managed ex situ NOW