A staggering 26 Javan rhinos could have been killed in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon Nationwide Park since 2019, based on native regulation enforcement.
As soon as roaming a lot of Southeast Asia, Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) as we speak survive in a single park in Java and are probably the most endangered massive mammals on Earth. If the loss of life toll is correct, it might quantity to poachers killing a minimum of one-third of all of the Javan rhinos left on the planet within the span of only a few years.
The mass slaughter raises questions of how this might occur in what was presupposed to be a closely guarded park.
Abdul Karim, the police chief of Banten province, the place the park is positioned, instructed native media that officers don’t know for sure what number of rhinos had been killed, because the quantity is at the moment primarily based on statements from suspects in custody and never on findings of direct proof comparable to rhino horns or bones.
Nevertheless, when requested by native media, he confirmed that the suspects claimed to have killed 26 rhinos.
Karim mentioned the authorities have arrested 13 suspected members of two poaching gangs: all eight alleged members of a gang regarded as led by a suspect named Sunendi, and 5 alleged members of one other led by a suspect named Suhar. Three different alleged members of the Suhar gang are nonetheless at massive.
Police have additionally arrested two different males for allegedly fencing the rhino horns. Of their statements to police, the suspects mentioned the horns had been destined for China; one of many fences was arrested shortly after coming back from a visit to China, although it’s not but recognized whether or not he took any rhino horn there. Police say they’re conscious of a minimum of two Chinese language nationals who may additionally be concerned.
“The rug has been pulled out from beneath us,” mentioned Nina Fascione, government director of the Worldwide Rhino Basis (IRF), which works intently with park officers. “There have been issues about rhinos lacking from digital camera entice counts over the previous few years, however that didn’t essentially imply they had been deceased, as this species is superb at hiding.”
The Indonesian authorities tracks the Javan rhino inhabitants utilizing digital camera traps, however no replace has been launched since 2019, when officers claimed 72 rhinos inhabited the park. That quantity, nonetheless, was known as into doubt final yr when the native NGO Auriga Nusantara launched a report that discovered that 18 rhinos of the rhinos being counted hadn’t been seen in three years — and that a few of them had been recognized to have died.
The report additionally claimed that poachers had been coming into the park — a declare that has confirmed true this yr with the sequence of arrests and revelations.
Police arrested the alleged head of the primary gang, Sunendi, final November. Thus far, he’s the one one of many suspects to have gone on trial. Prosecutors in his case are looking for the utmost sentence for poaching in Indonesia: 5 years. However many consultants say that’s not sufficient to discourage poaching.
Park officers closed Ujung Kulon to tourism final yr and say they’ve elevated safety. The IRF mentioned in a press release that it had been “assured” that the scenario “is secure now that native police and navy have joined safety efforts.”
“So far as we all know, no Javan rhinos have been poached in 2024,” the group added, noting that each one the poaching revelations which have come to gentle at trial occurred from 2019-2023.
However even elevated safety is unlikely to be sufficient to make sure the survival of this critically endangered species; for greater than 30 years, consultants have known as on Indonesia to ascertain a second inhabitants of Javan rhinos past Ujung Kulon. They warned that the species may very well be worn out by a tsunami or illness or, certainly, poachers.
Some consultants have additionally known as on the federal government to start a captive-breeding program for the rhinos, just like what has been efficiently performed for Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) for many years (there are at the moment 11 in captivity). Sumatran rhinos are additionally solely present in Indonesia now and are additionally among the many most endangered massive mammals on the planet, with no numbers launched on what number of survive within the wild for years. An impartial evaluation prompt solely 34-47 Sumatran rhinos survive as we speak.
If the poaching suspects’ claims maintain up, that may put the Javan rhino in the identical ballpark. A lot of Indonesia’s nice mammals are actually thought of critically endangered, together with the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), and all three species of orangutan: Sumatran (Pongo abelii), Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus), and even the newly described Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis).
Conservationists have lengthy criticized the Indonesian authorities for not being clear in regards to the numbers of its vanishing species. In 2022, a leaked census confirmed that Sumatran elephant populations had dropped by half for the reason that flip of the century. A number of scientists have been successfully banned from working in Indonesia for questioning authorities claims that orangutan populations had been growing. The federal government has additionally pledged to do a full census of the Sumatran rhino — however years later there was no depend launched, and just one rhino has been captured from the wild from Borneo, main some to suspect only a few survive.
This article by Jeremy Hance was first revealed by Mongabay.com on 31 Might 2024. Lead Picture: A Javan rhino photographed by digital camera entice in Ujung Kulon Nationwide Park. Picture courtesy of Indonesia’s Ministry of Atmosphere and Forestry.
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