Javan Rhino babies

The whole project is designed to produce a second secure national park site away from Ujung Kulon for a resident breeding population of Javan rhino. The boma area is a temporary thing for shifting individual rhinos to the new habitat, it is certainly not designed to cater for a captive population at all!!! You can all relax over that ... :cool:
 
In the late 1970s, several Indian Rhinos were translocated from Assam and brought to Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh(Which is where Billy Arjan Singh released the hybrid tigress Tara into the wild). I have been informed they are still in an enclosure and if that is the case, the purpose of release has been defeated. This was told to me by Dr M K Ranjitsinh, who framed India's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 when I did an exclusive two and a half hour interview with him last year in January.
Regarding White Rhinos in India, there is a single White Rhino in Guwahati Zoo who has been there for at least the past twenty years. This animal is abnormal, he is violent and bashes his head against the walls, an activity that has worn down his horn to a pitiful stump. I first saw him in 1994. Then whilst doing the zoo survey for Zoocheck Canada, I saw two White Rhinos in Mysore in a fairly decent enclosure, large and green and the animals I saw were grazing together : it was a nice sight in sharp contrast to the sad scene in Guwahati. I recommended that the Guwahati animal be shifted to Mysore. As usual, nothing happened since no zoo wants to part with a single animal, it is a political issue as you will note from the post on Shiva in Bombay Zoo. One animal in Mysore died subsequently, and the two animals are both eking out a lonely existence. These cases raise some very hard ethical questions on the treatment meted out to animals in zoos and the questions ought to be asked by the zoos themselves. I have met zoo directors who do ask these questions, zoo directors who will talk with pressure groups and external agents to facilitate change and it does happen in India but the overwhelming majority are not amenable to criticism. The same thing is true for some animal welfare/rights groups who refuse to negotiate with zoos although in India even a group like PETA talks to zoo people.(I know because my zoo survey was shared with them.) As I said previously, captive breeding of rhinos is an expensive affair. Nigel Leader Williams of DICE(Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)analysed it well in a paper in 1991 . Here :
http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/ref_files/1216650645.pdf
He does not rule out captive breeding, but he clearly says the most effective way is to fund field conservation efforts. It does make sense to have a small population of Javan Rhinos under some kind of control although I am not sure what that controlled situation would mean : a zoo, an in situ captive breeding area, a fenced off reserve similar to Dudhwa or any other kind of restricted place to monitor the animals intensively. Jay says that Indian Rhinos in Nepal(some controversy about the name since Nepalis insist on calling them Nepali as long as they are in Nepal so better to say Greater One Horned Rhino) have been translocated from reserves. That is an interesting point but that is different from a translocation scheme from a captive facility like a zoo. I would be interested to know if there are successful cases of any rhino species being released from zoos to the wild. Also if the released animals significantly boosted the resident population in the wild.
 
I think this is one case of captive rhino release :

Endangered black rhinos return to Tanzania
21/05/2006 00:00:00
Two endangered black rhino have been returned to their native habitat from Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent, UK by The John Aspinall Foundation, a UK-based charity devoted to saving rare and endangered species and reintroducing them into protected areas in the wild.

The rhinos exploring their new paddock in Tanzania. © John Aspinall Foundation.
Laikipia, a female and Limpopo, a male, both five years old, were born and raised at Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks in Kent which are managed by The John Aspinall Foundation. The two animals were flown on a specially-chartered cargo flight to a reserve on the western edge of the Serengeti National Park on 11 June. They arrived safely the following day.

Both animals have taken to their new surroundings very quickly and by the end of the first day in Tanzania, Limpopo had taken his first steps outside the ‘boma’, similar to a stable.

Over the last few days since arrival, the rhino have both been introduced to their outside paddocks which allows them the chance to get used to their new surroundings as well as giving the rhino teams the opportunity to monitor the animals. The progress of their return to the wild will be slow but steady and if things proceed as planned, they will be released into larger paddocks soon.
The reintroduction was approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Black rhinos hunted close to extinction

* The black rhino was hunted close to extinction in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, and less than 3,000 black rhino remain in the world today.



Courtesy of the John Aspinall Foundation.

Grumeti Community and Wildlife Conservation Fund
Grumeti Community and Wildlife Conservation Fund (Grumeti Fund) assists the Tanzanian Wildlife Division and District Authorities in managing approximately 1500sqkms of game reserves and wildlife management areas on the edge of the western Serengeti. They are committed to improving the livelihoods for neighbouring communities, and habitats and biodiversity for wildlife.
Wildlife Extra News - Endangered black rhinos return to Tanzania
 
One item on the complexities of captive breeding rhinos here :
Nepal zoo opens 'honeymoon suite' for rhinos*

(AFP) – 3 days ago

KATHMANDU — Nepal's only zoo has opened a new "honeymoon suite" for its two
one-horned rhinos in the hope of persuading the endangered pair to breed for
the first time.

Kancha, 20, and 22-year-old Kanchi have lived together in captivity for most
of their adult lives, but have never bred -- something the zoo's manager
Sarita Jnawali attributes to the quality of their enclosure.

She hopes that their new, much larger home, which features mud rather than
concrete floors and two large ponds for them to wallow in, will persuade
them to finally start mating.

"As far as we can tell, Kancha and Kanchi have never mated," Jnawali told
AFP on Friday.

"Before, we didn't have the proper facilities for the rhinos to breed, and
we hope this new enclosure will help us to increase species numbers."

Thousands of one-horned rhinos once roamed the plains of Nepal and northern
India, but their numbers have dwindled in recent decades as they have fallen
victim to poaching and human encroachment on their habitat.

The animal's horn is highly valued as an aphrodisiac in China, and a single
one can fetch as much as 14,000 dollars on the international black market.

Experts say Nepal's rhino population fell dramatically during the 10-year
Maoist rebellion that ended in 2006, as army guards stationed in wildlife
reserves to deter poachers left to fight the rebels.

Only around 435 remain in Nepal, Jnawali said.

Nepal's zoo relies solely on a 50-rupee (67-cent) entry charge for funding,
and a local bank that uses the one-horned rhino as its logo covered the 1.5
million rupee cost of the new enclosure.

Ace Development Bank chief executive Siddhant Raj Pandey has dubbed the new
enclosure the rhino "honeymoon suite".

"We learned that the reason these two had not bred was their environment so
we decided to build them a new enclosure," he told AFP. "We understand there
are signs of them becoming quite amorous."
 
I think that most important right now is to take ACTION, one way or the other.

I personally believe that removing a certain number os animals from the wild, selected one and placing them in captivity should be the better.
Added to these animals, should be added the ones in a semi-captivity situation.

Captivy should be done at two separate location.

At two Zoos or a two private natural reserves.
Most important would be the husbandry + clima.

I trully think that the major fault with the northern white was not exactly the Zoo itself, but the lack of better condition and the weather of the region.
 
MARK said:
If the new exhibit does not work maybe it's time to bring in another male?
Click to expand...

I would think bringing in a new younger female would probably work better, as the existing one is probably too old for a first birth, and the bull has probably lost interest in her a long time ago- whether or not the enclosure is any different now. He would probably mate a new one though.

It always seems sad to me to see a zoo like this struggling to try and breed a species native to their own country. I saw a whole swag of Indian rhinos in Gauhati Zoo (near Kaziranga) and their conditions were miserable.
 
I was really looking forward to new postins re Javan rhino babies only to find to my dismay that the thread has been taken over with discussing rhinos in Sumatera, Nepal and India. I really do appreciate all your concerns re other rhino species - believe me as a rhino enthousiast/part-time conservationist - but would rather have it that this be dealt with in another thread. :cool:
 
I agree. Can you please tell me how to start a new thread? Is such an option available on the Home Page saying "Start New Thread' or something?
 
Animal Rights said:
I agree. Can you please tell me how to start a new thread? Is such an option available on the Home Page saying "Start New Thread' or something?
Click to expand...

Simply go to the most relevant forum (like in the case of Indian rhinos in India the Indian forum and open a thread on Indian rhinos in captivity). I am most happy to contribute what I know myself .... too.
At the top of every forum is a button Open New Thread.
Good luck and contribute.
 
Thanks and appreciate Kifaru.

Pertinax, regarding your observation on Gauhati Zoo. There is one Great Indian Rhino in a mixed species enclosure with Sarus Cranes and Axis Deer. The Rhino regularly kills the deer babies and destroys the eggs of the cranes. I don't know why they continue with the exhibit. You are right, the Gauhati Zoo rhinos are not in a very good condition. But they have tackled some rescued babies from the floods.
 
I have moved your comments re Guwahati Zoo to a new thread in the Forums India under the title Indian rhinos in India.

For comfort: there is also a thread on Mumbai should you wish to put up your comments on the Byculla/Veermata zoo re lone rhino.
 
Thank you. Much appreciated. Will check out the links. Please do share your experiences with rhinos. A colleague has just joined the International Rhino Foundation. Their India representative shuttles between India and Indonesia. I know him quite well. Although I do not exactly know where they stand on the captive rhino issue, but some Western zoos have offered some financial support for conservation work in Assam. That is certainly a positive contribution of zoos that needs to be acknowledged. There are some ohter single Rhinos in Indian zoos, Kolkata and Lucknow as far as I can reckon.
 
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