Antara 19 Nov 10;
Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - Three Sumatra rhinoceroses (dicerorhinus sumatrensis) a few years ago known to be living in their habitat in Bengkulu province have now disappeared and might have migrated to neighboring Jambi province, according to a conservationist.
"Those rare animals have been the target of poachers so they are not safe in the national park and, we think, they have migrated to Kerinci Seblat national park (TNKS) in Jambi," said Andi Basrul, head of Bengkulu`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) here on Friday.
Basrul said in 2005 there were at least three rhinos living in Bengkulu forests but the local rhino patrol unit (RPU), which closely monitors the most endangered animals, cannot see them any longer these days. The unit had now been disbanded for failure in performing its task and replaced by a "rescue team."
The failure of the unit to carry out its task was based on the fact that the number of rhinos in their habitat in Bengkulu had dwindled drastically from about 40-60 in 1992 to about just 2-3 in 2004 and zero in 2010, Basrul said.
Basrul emphasized that rhinos were the most sought after animals by poachers because their tusks fetched a high price in the market.
The Sumatran rhino, the most endangered of all rhinoceros species, is fast approaching extinction with its population at one of its last reserves in Indonesia dropping by 90 percent in 14 years to 50, an official said Sunday.
The directorate for forest protection and nature conservation, forestry ministry had the data there were about 50 rhinos inside TNSK in 2005, from around 500 rhinos in 1990.
Bengkulu shares part of the national park that is the country`s largest national reserve, straddling four provinces on Sumatra island -- West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu and South Sumatra and being one of the last reserves for the small and hairy Sumatran rhinoceros.
The International Rhino Foundation has estimated there are fewer than 300 Sumatran rhinos surviving in very small and highly fragmented populations in Southeast Asia with Indonesia and Malaysia being home to most.
(Uu.KR-VFT/HAJM/H-YH/P003)
