That Javan Rhino Has Been Gone from Vietnam

It has been predicted long ago that the population of Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) will continue to decrease and approaching extinction, this rhinoceros once was the Asia's most widely spread, but it doesn’t mean guarantee the time will protect their population.

The species is now extremely in critical status, with only a few populations are found in the wild environment, they eat 160-200 leaf species such banyan leaf, jackfruit, or gingers, rarest mammals on earth, there’s only 40-50 rhinos population live in Ujung Kulon National Park in the west tip of Java Island, Indonesia and Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam with an estimated population of no more than eight individuals in 2007.

That is a record in 2007 and now everything has changed, a recent survey of World Wide Foundation (WWF) states that the Javan rhino in Vietnam have become extinct and never again be found in Cat Tien National Park, they hunted for their horns that used as medicine in China, although its efficacy has not been proven medically.

Report from Scientific American, Tuesday, October 25, 2011, the extinction case of Javan rhino in Vietnam is an example of animal extinction due to hunting, there has been previous cases in Indian javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis) in India more than a century ago.

Now only Indonesian javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus) that still exists and is expected to soon become extinct if there’s no proper treatment, the results of recent monitoring only 50 individuals or less which is now still exist in Ujung Kulon National Park.

The heartbreaking news, hunting by humans to gain horn which is then sold precisely against the intention to do conservation. A tragedy, as said by Nick Cox, Manager of WWF's Greater Mekong Species Program, said, "The tragedy of Vietnam is a symbol Javan rhino extinction crisis."

The same concern in the population of Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) whose population is now only about 300 individuals, only two subspecies. The third subspecies is thought to have become extinct.

Rhino conservation efforts as very expensive and need special treatment different from other animals, this animals are classified as shy and very hard to find in the wildlife.

Are we going to let this happens until extinction after extinction of endangered animals still continue?

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(Source American Scientific /Images WWF-TNUK, Uyun Sanwani)