KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia, represented by the Wildlife Department in Sabah, is leading a worldwide bid to save the Sumatran rhinoceros that are in serious danger of extinction.
Dr Laurentius Nayan Ambu, director of the department, has been appointed chairman of the Global Sumatran Rhinoceros Management and Propagation Board (GMPB) for the next five years, a post previously held by Indonesia.
By virtue of the fact that Indonesia and Malaysia are the only two countries where this rare animal is found, they are known as the range states and considered the leading countries on the board of this global body.
Laurentius told the Borneo Post in an interview here that there are not more than 350 of this specie of rhinoceros left on earth and there are no more than 50 of them in Malaysia.
“To be exact, there are no more than 30 in fragmented areas, mainly in the Tabin and the Danum Valley in the Lahad Datu district of Sabah,” he added.
“These are the two areas we surveyed that have a good number of rhinos left, the bulk of rhinos in Sabah.
“The rest are in the interior, like the Tungod area, the Yayasan Sabah’s timber concession areas and some forest reserves in central Sabah.”
Elaborating on his role as GMPB chairman, Laurentius said:
“I am spearheading the movement. That means I talk to the Indonesian authorities on what they are doing there. I call on them every now and then to see what’s going on in Indonesia and find out what help do they need.”
He pointed out that there are only two captive breeding sites in the world – one in Indonesia and the other in Malaysia.
The one in Indonesia is located at Waykambas, Bogor, on Sumatra Island. This is where they keep their captive rhinos. The one for Malaysia is in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
“These are the two Sumatran rhinoceros breeding centres in the world. My duty is to call on the technical experts on the board, representatives of the donor countries and try to work out how to support these two breeding centres.
“The other breeding centre is at the Cincinnati Zoo. They took the Sumatran rhinos from Indonesia. That one is captive, whilst the ones in Malaysia and Indonesia are in semi-wild conditions.”
Laurentius disclosed that a rhino conservation workshop, held two years ago, passed a resolution saying that an active intervention had to be taken to save the rhinos.
“I had told the Minister (of Tourism, Culture and Environment) that we are running against time for the survival of the Sumatran rhinos in Sabah and worldwide.
“This is because there are only two countries in the world having these rhinos now – Indonesia and Malaysia.”
He said the workshop resolution calling for active intervention was for the purpose of gathering all remnants and scattered individuals of Sumatran rhinos and put them in one place for captive breeding.
As a result of that briefing, he said Datuk Masidi Manjun, the minister concerned, subsequently presented a Cabinet paper that was approved, thus giving a mandate for his department to undertake a captive breeding programme, known as the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary programme.
The 120,000-hectare sanctuary is located at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in the Lahad Datu District. The sanctuary has started with the two paddocks.
“We have decided to have paddocks with sizes ranging from 20 to 50 acres each. At the moment, we have two such paddocks in Sabah in semi-wild conditions – with one rhino each,” he said.
There is a very old female rhino at one of the paddocks and another male rhino that is not that old, captured and placed at the second paddock two years ago.
Laurentius stated that the biggest challenge in the save the Sumatran rhinos programme is to capture more of them that are scattered in various parts of the state.
“We cannot capture every individual, but we are trying to capture sufficient numbers to be used in the captive breeding programme,” he said.