Breakthrough on Malaysia-Indonesia Collaboration in saving the Sumatran Rhino from extinction

Aug 17 2019

Breakthrough on Malaysia-Indonesia Collaboration in saving the Sumatran Rhino from extinction

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Bernama) — A collaboration between Malaysia and Indonesia on the conservation of the Sumatran Rhinoceros is set to go forward as early as next month.

This decision came as a result of a meeting held between Indonesian and Malaysian government officials in Jakarta on Friday, 9th August 2019. The Malaysian delegation, led by Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Christina Liew, also included senior officers from the ministry as well as Dr. John Payne from the Borneo Rhino Alliance and Dr. Henry Chan from WWF-Malaysia.

Also present at the meeting were Widodo Ramono of the Indonesian Rhino Foundation and Anwar Purwoto from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

At the meeting, Malaysian and Indonesian delegates successfully outlined the technical details involved in the collaboration between the two countries for rhino conservation as well as set a timetable to move forward.

Director-General of Natural Resource and Ecosystem Conservation Indonesia, Wiratno, reaffirmed his Ministry’s commitment to proceed as soon as possible, pending any administrative and legal details that needs to be resolved.

“This visit has been a positive one for rhino conservation in Malaysia and Indonesia as we are ready to move forward and work together.”

“While governments do their part to enable the collaboration to move forward, the effort to save our Sumatran Rhino from disappearing from Planet Earth calls for international support. I am happy that BORA and WWF-Malaysia being part of our delegation is evidence of that. I call on WWF to reach out to the global community to partner with us in reversing the complete loss of rhinos,” said Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Christina Liew.

According to Borneo Rhino Alliance and SOS Rhino, the single main reason that captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos has not been successful is due to the fact that capture efforts have for the past forty years avoided capture of fertile rhinos and instead targeted the isolated and mainly infertile ones. Sumatran rhinos will only survive with a concerted effort to secure the last fertile rhinos from their unviable situations.

However, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is also vital so that the infertile and sub fertile ones can contribute their genomes to the species survival.

“It would be nice to imagine that this ancient species can be saved from extinction by protecting the last survivors in the wild and through natural breeding. The reality is that this is no longer going to happen. It is absolutely necessary to fast track assisted reproductive technology to ensure that every last Sumatran rhino counts and can contribute its genome to the survival of the species. I am delighted that all the concerned institutions now subscribe to this view and will move forward together. Better late than never,” said BORA Executive Director Dr. John Payne

“WWF-Malaysia applauds the Sabah State Government’s strong commitment to rhino conservation. Its visit to Indonesia has helped to expedite the process of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to reverse the complete extinction of our Sumatran Rhinoceros. The organisation fully supports the MoU as it would pave the way for a better bilateral collaboration that would in turn gain stronger support from the international community for a One Borneo Programme.”

“For its part, WWF-Malaysia will assist to garner support from the global audience with the help of its network offices around the world,” said WWF-Malaysia Conservation Director, Dr. Henry Chan.

About WWF-Malaysia WWF-Malaysia (World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia) was established in Malaysia in 1972. It currently runs more than 90 projects covering a diverse range of environmental conservation and protection work, from saving endangered species such as tigers and turtles, to protecting our highland forests, rivers and seas. The national conservation organisation also undertakes environmental education and advocacy work to achieve its conservation goals. Its mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the nation’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. For latest news and media resources, visit http://www.wwf.org.my/media_and_information/media_centre/

Note to the media:
1) All quotes are to be attributed to the designated persons quoted in this media release.
2) Should you need more information, please see the details below but please note that this person is for contact purposes only and is not the organisation’s authorised spokesperson, so we would appreciate it if this name is not printed in the article.

SOURCE: WWF-Malaysia

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name: Elaine Clara Mah
Tel: +6088 262 420 Ext. 121
Email: emah@wwf.org.my

–BERNAMA

Aug 17 2019

Sabah-M’sia, Indonesia govts to ink MoU on Rhino conservation

*Liew (centre) presenting a gift to Wiratno during the exchange of mementos.*

JAKARTA Aug 10 2019: The governments of Indonesia and Sabah-Malaysia have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Conservation of the Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Indonesia next month (September).

The move, which involves a captive breeding programme, is to prevent the extinction of the species in Sabah, given that Iman, kept at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Lahad Datu, is Malaysia’s sole surviving female rhino at the moment.

The agreement was reached at a meeting between Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew, and Director-General Wiratno of the Directorate General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation under the Ministry of Environment and Forestry at the Ministry’s Office, here, yesterday.

Both expressed their commitment towards conservation of the Sumatran Rhinoceros and agreed that political will is crucial to the signing of the MoU, recognising that the rhino is one of the world’s most endangered species.

Liew, who is also Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, and Wiratno agreed on the need to sort out the administrative part to speed up the inking of the MoU.

“I promise to work towards the signing of the MoU in September this year. We will do our best. We cannot allow administrative issues to sacrifice the survival of the Sumatran Rhinoceros,” said Wiratno, who suggested that the signing ceremony be held at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia.

Liew said, she will brief Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and the State Government on the outcome of the meeting.

“The Sabah Wildlife Department will iron out any administrative issues relating to the provisions in the MoU. In this respect, I will let the Chief Minister take up the matter with the relevant authorities in Malaysia,” she said, in response to the Director of Biodiversity Conservation, Indra Exploitasia Semiawan, who emphasised on the need to expedite the administrative process.

Liew was accompanied by her Ministry’s permanent secretary, William Baya, Sabah Tourism Board (STB) general manager, Noredah Othman, Sabah Wildlife Department director, Augustine Tuuga, STB marketing manager, Bobby Alex, and her private secretary, Helen Muhammari.

The Minister thanked Vice-Consul of the Consulate-General of the Republic of Indonesia in Kota Kinabalu, Sartono Hendrarso and Consul Cahyono Rustam for coordinating the meeting.

Input was provided by Wildlife Adviser to the Minister, Dr. John Payne, Augustine and WWF-Malaysia conservation director, Henry Chan, who expressed support for Iman’s IVF participation under the captive breeding programme in Indonesia.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) involves the extraction of an egg from Iman and getting it fertilized in a specialist lab, using sperm from one of Indonesia’s captive male rhinos, before implanting the embryo (fertilized egg) in the womb of a surrogate female rhino. Indonesia is home to an estimated 30 to 50 Sumatran rhinos.

“This is the very first attempt at IVF using eggs from an aging and sick female (Iman) with the sperm of an aging and fit male (Andalas from Indonesia). What we are optimistic is the beginning of a process of refining techniques and protocols with a goal of success after several attempts,” Dr. Payne said.

Meanwhile, executive director of the Indonesian Rhino Foundation, Widodo Ramono, assured that his team will collaborate with Sabah Wildlife Department on the IVF procedure. The department will enlist the help of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin for the collection of eggs from Iman.

Iman remains as Malaysia’s sole surviving female Sumatran rhino following the death of then Malaysia’s sole surviving male Sumatran rhino, Tam, on May 29 this year due to old age and multiple organ failures stemming from kidney and liver damage. Iman, who was captured in 2014, has been kept at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve since then. However, the female rhino has been diagnosed as having cysts and fibroids in her uterus (womb) thus rendering her infertile.

Tam, a 30 to 35-year-old rhino, was captured near an oil-palm plantation in 2008 and translocated to the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Lahad Datu. Attempts were made to mate Tam with Puntung (a female rhino captured in 2011) and Iman (captured in 2014) under a captive breeding programme but these failed to produce viable pregnancies.

Puntung, then 25 years old, was reported to have reproductive problems with cysts in the lining of her womb. She was euthanised (put to sleep after her battle against skin cancer) in June 2017.

The Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the world’s most endangered species with only a small number left on Indonesia Sumatra island. Of the five species of rhinoceros in the world, the Sumatran rhino is the most endangered species.

The Bornean sub-species of the Sumatran rhinoceros, which is only found in Sabah, is the rarest of all rhinos, distinguished from other Sumatran rhinos by its relatively small size, small teeth and distinctive shaped head. It stands about 120 to 135cm at the shoulder and weighs not more than 700kgs.

Prior to this trip, a meeting involving four parties was convened to discuss the implementation of the provisions of the Draft Memorandum on Conservation of the Sumatran Rhino at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment. Liew chaired the meeting attended by the Ministry, Consul-General of the Republic of Indonesia in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA) and World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia).

The meeting also deliberated on the Implementation Arrangement between the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia and the Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources of Malaysia concerning the Collaborative Programme on the Application of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in the Sumatran Rhinoceros.

In the Sabah context, it was reported that the harvesting of rhino horn by native hunters was encouraged in bygone days. By the 1960s, the rhinos had largely disappeared from western and northern Sabah, and became confined to the forests in the southeastern areas (that is, Tabin Wildlife Reserve and the forest reserve in Ulu Segama, Kuamut).

By the late 1970s, it was feared that the rhino was nearing extinction in Sabah. However, a statewide faunal survey from 1979 to 1982 revealed that some small breeding populations (in the wild) still existed at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve and Danum Valley Conservation Area.

In early 2007, WWF Malaysia announced that it had captured video footage of the extremely rare Bornean sub-species of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino. The footage was taken in a forest in Sabah. It was the first sighting of a male rhino in its natural habitat.

By 2003, the Sumatran rhino had become extinct in Peninsular Malaysia (which was seriously hit by poaching) when all five rhinos at the Rhino Conservation Centre in Selangor died due to an infection.

In Sabah, alarm bells sounded on the Sumatran rhino to the point of near extinction as far back as 2002, despite conservation efforts made by the Government. Numbers continued to decline due to poaching being the major threat. The mammal was ruthlessly pursued for its horn (said to have medicinal value) and other body parts. Other contributory factors were logging activities causing loss and fragmentation of the rhino’s natural habitat.

Read the article on Borneo Post online

Aug 17 2019

Barbara Durrant: How a newborn rhino could help to save his subspecies cousins from extinction

Some rhinos in human care don’t reproduce well, which complicates efforts to sustain these important insurance populations. Scientists have worked for years to develop reliable means of artificial reproduction, with limited success.

Examples are scarce: A dozen years ago, a southern white rhino was born through artificial insemination in Budapest, and a greater one-horned rhino was born with such help in Miami in April.

Southern white rhinos of Africa, once close to extinction, have rebounded in protected sanctuaries. Edward’s arrival by artificial means thus would not have been quite the heralded event it was if not for one fact: His birth holds out hope for saving the functionally extinct northern white rhino.

Only two northern white rhinos remain in the world, and both are female. The last male died in March 2018. The duo lives under protective guard from poachers at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. But there is hope, in the form of DNA from a dozen northern white rhinos banked at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, in a facility called the Frozen Zoo. Over the past 44 years, tissues and cells from some of the world’s most endangered species have been stored in this cryobank.

Analysis by my colleague Oliver Ryder, director of conservation genetics, has found that there is sufficient genetic variability in the frozen northern white rhino cell lines to theoretically reestablish the population. By collaborating with scientists around the world, we envision a future northern white rhino baby born to a southern white rhino surrogate. Perhaps Edward’s mother, Victoria, will fill that role.

Victoria and her new calf are doing well. Edward represents an important step in an effort to save a related white rhino subspecies, but what we learned from his birth could also help Sumatran and Javan rhinos.

At the moment, though, he is simply a baby rhino, staying close to his mother as she guards him, cuddles him (in rhino fashion, between her horns) and puts mud on his back to screen him from the summer sun.

Edward is also a lesson to all of us, a reminder that humans, as stewards of Earth, must protect species at risk of extinction.

The world faces an epic extinction crisis, outlined most recently in a United Nations report in May that brought together three years of work by nearly 150 researchers from 50 nations. Climate change, habitat loss, wildlife trafficking and other human-caused disturbances all play a role in the rising threat.

Humanity must work to preserve these species — in the wild and in managed care. Ideally, protective action will follow the guidelines of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s One Plan Approach to Conservation, which blends human management with preservation in the wild. But the world cannot wait until each species, one by one, vanishes before our eyes. Success will require initiating conservation efforts when it is possible to bolster and protect existing populations.

Last year, San Diego Zoo Global played a part in efforts to rebuild the black rhino population in Africa by sending a Safari Park-born 8-year-old black rhino to be released into the wild in Tanzania. He has joined a female black rhino at Singita Grumeti Reserves, where we hope they will help restore a rhino population that was lost in the region, and unite four scattered remnant populations of the species.

If they are successful, the species will recover long before it gets to the brink of extinction.

But the northern white rhino is already teetering on the brink. Now we are compelled to intervene using banked frozen cells rather than protecting populations of living individual animals.

Saving individual animals and family groups while fostering sustainable populations is the ideal conservation strategy. But sometimes artificial reproductive intervention may be the only way to avert extinction. With persistence leading to further scientific advances, Edward’s arrival will be living proof of that.

Read this article in the Omaha World-Herald

May 27 2019

Last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia dies

Tam at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary, 2016 BORA Filepic

By JASON BITTEL published May 27, 2019 on National Geographic

Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhinoceros, Tam, has died—a serious blow for the critically endangered species, which is already extinct in the country.

Discovered poking around an oil palm plantation in 2008, Tam was captured and transferred to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in the state of Sabah. Efforts to breed him with two female rhinos—Puntung, captured in 2011, and Iman, captured in 2014—proved unsuccessful.

With Puntung’s euthanization in 2017 due to cancer, Iman is now the nation’s sole remaining member of its species in Malaysia. Due to decades of habitat loss and poaching, fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos are thought to exist in the wild, most on the nearby island of Sumatra. The rest are scattered across Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo.

Read the full article on National Geographic.com

May 27 2019

Tam, Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhinoceros, dies of old age

South China Morning Post, 27 May 2019

The last male Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia has died of old age, dashing efforts to save the critically endangered species in the country.

Tam the rhino, who was in his 30s, lived at a wildlife reserve in Sabah state on Borneo island since his capture in 2008, according to Christina Liew, the state minister for tourism, culture and the environment.

“Regrettably, Tam died at mid-day, around noon on Monday. Invariably, everything that could possibly have been done, was done, and executed with great love and dedication,” Liew said in a statement on Monday.

“His last weeks involved the most intense palliative care humanly possible, rendered by the Borneo Rhino Alliance team under veterinary surgeon Dr Zainal Zahari Zainuddin at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Lahad Datu,” said the minister.

Tam was believed to have died of old age, but the wildlife reserve would release more information after completing an autopsy report, Liew said.

Despite approaching middle age, Tam was not grumpy and was “quite the gentleman”, according to the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA). He had a calm and steady manner, although he was “a bit cheeky at times”, BORA said.

Sumatran rhinos are the smallest of the living rhinoceroses and the only Asian rhino with two horns. They are more closely related to the extinct woolly rhinos than any of the other rhino species alive today, according to the WWF. The Sumatran rhino was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015.

Iman, Malaysia’s last female Sumatran rhino. Photo: Borneo Rhino Alliance

Iman, a female captured in 2014, is now the only surviving member of the subspecies left in the country.

She suffered a ruptured tumour in her uterus in December 2017, but was said to have been showed some signs of recovery by the end of the month, although she remains in poor health.

Another female rhino, jackfruit-loving Puntung, was euthanised in 2017 after suffering from incurable squamous cell cancer.

On Monday, WWF Malaysia called the loss of Tam a “wake-up call” and urged more action to save the endangered animals.

“Our hearts are filled with sadness as we mourn the loss of a species. With Tam gone, we now only have Iman left, our last female rhino. Let the loss of Tam be the wakeup call,” the group said in a tweet. “Our #wildlife needs protection.”

Wildlife experts estimate that only about 30 to 80 Sumatran rhinos remain in the world, mostly on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on the Indonesian side of Borneo.

Their isolation, caused by habitat loss and poaching, means they rarely breed and may go extinct in a matter of decades, according to conservation group International Rhino Foundation.

Since 2011, Malaysia has tried to breed the species in captivity through in vitro fertilisation, but without success.

Liew said Tam’s genetic material has been preserved for future attempts to reproduce Sumatran rhinos.

“We hope that with emerging technologies at cell and molecular level, he may yet contribute his genes to the survival of the species,” she said.

Sabah conservationists feel that urgent steps should be initiated to prevent other wildlife species from meeting the Sumatran rhino’s fate.

They hoped for more attention to be given to the conservation of pangolins, banteng, the Bornean elephant, clouded leopard and sun bear whose numbers have dwindled over the years due to poaching and wildlife conflict.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/05/26/experts-weve-lost-battle-on-rhino-conservation/#pqm4XflTgcDxJfJL.99