Javan rhino declared extinct in Vietnam

Camera trap photo_last Javan rhino (Photo: WWF)

A report from the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) confirm the death of the world’s last Vietnamese rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus). In 2009 poachers shot and killed the single last remaining Vietnamese rhinoceros, a subspecies of the Javan rhino. The Vietnamese rhino was the last Javan rhino to survive on the Asian mainland and the second subspecies to vanish, following the extinction of the Indian Javan rhino (rhinoceros sondaicus inermis). The Javan rhino is the world’s most imperiled rhino species with now only around 48 individuals surviving in Ujung Kulon National Parkon, Java. The Vietnamese rhino was distinguished from its island-relative by its size: it was much smaller than those roaming Java.

From 2009-2010 researchers collected 22 dung samples from Cat Tien National Park, the subspecies’ final stand, only to find that they all belonged to the single rhino found dead due to poaching last year. “Given the good survey coverage of the area, the field observations, and the genetic and bacterial diversity work, we can therefore confirm that the Vietnamese population and the annamiticus subspecies of Javan rhinoceros is extinct,” the WWF report on the subspecies’ extinction reads. The report blames the ultimate demise of the rhino on poachers.

Skeleton last Javan rhino (photo: WWF)

Rhinos are illegally killed for their horns, which are ground into traditional medicines used throughout eastern Asia, primarily in China and, more recently, Vietnam. Though numerous scientific studies have shown that there are no medicinal benefits to consuming rhino horn—made mostly out of keratin, it’s the nutritional equivalent of eating one’s fingernails and hair, rhino poaching has hit new heights recently. In South Africa alone, 333 rhinos were killed by poachers last year to feed the black market demand in Asia. Beyond poaching, the Vietnamese rhino also suffered from large-scale habitat loss, agricultural encroachment, and the inability of Vietnam to protect the last individuals even in one of its most famous parks.

Across Asia and Africa, the same pressures—habitat destruction and poaching—have pushed all five of the world’s rhino species, at one time or another, into endangerment. Three of the five species—the black, the Javan, and the Sumatran—are listed as Critically Endangered. The Sumatran rhino is a target species that features in one of the EAZA IUCN/SSC Southeast Asia Campaign pre-selected projects in Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra. This project, run by the International Rhino Foundation in partnership with Yayasan Badak Indonesia, is part of a long-term effort to ensure the survival of the Sumatran rhino, as well as other threatened Sumatran species through intensive protection and monitoring. Funds from the campaign will be used towards supporting Rhino Patrolling Units and a floating boat guard post to reduce poaching and other illegal activities in the northern side of Way Kambas national Park.

More on the EAZA IUCN/SSC Sumatran rhino project here.