US zoo sending endangered rhino to Indonesia to mate

CINCINNATI (Ohio) — A zoo that has the last Sumatran rhino in the United States yesterday (Aug 25) announced plans to send it to South-east Asia on a mission to mate and help preserve its critically endangered species.

Conservation experts at the Cincinnati Zoo say eight-year-old Harapan could be on its way within several weeks to Indonesia, where nearly all of the estimated 100 remaining Sumatran rhinos live. Numbers of the two-horned descendants of Ice Age woolly rhinos have fallen by some 90 per cent since the mid-1980s as development of their South-east Asia forest habitat and poachers seeking their prized horns took their toll.

Cincinnati’s zoo has been a pioneer in breeding the species, also called “hairy rhinos”, producing the first three born in captivity in modern times. Harapan will join the eldest, Andalas, who has been in Indonesia since 2007 and has produced one male offspring. Andalas will turn 14 next month.

Final details and permits are still being worked out so the transfer timetable is uncertain. It’s expected Harapan will be flown to Jakarta, then taken by ferry to its ancestral island home of Sumatra.

Mr Bambang Dahono Adji, director of biodiversity conservation at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said preparations are underway at a rhino sanctuary at Way Kambas National Park in southern Sumatra, and hopefully Harapan will arrive by early October at the latest.

Indonesia has said it does not want to be dependent on other countries in conservation efforts by sending rhinos to be bred abroad. However, it says it welcomes any technological or scientific assistance for the Sumatran rhino breeding program.

Veteran zoo rhino keeper Paul Reinhart will accompany Harapan. He and others will work with the rhino, who already has travelled across the US, to condition him to being in a crate for the long flight.

Harapan and Andalas’ sister, Suci, died from illness last year at the zoo, after the Cincinnati conservationists had discussed trying to mate the siblings in a desperation move.

Mr Dahono from Indonesia’s environment and forestry ministry said Suci may have died because her diet at the zoo contained too much iron, and expressed concern that Harapan could face the same fate.

“The conclusion of experts is that Harapan has to be saved,” Mr Dahono said. “Therefore, we are insisting on getting Harapan back to its original habitat here rather than having it live alone there.”

“We don’t want to see any more premature deaths of rhinos,” he added. “We don’t want Harapan to become a second Suci.”

Harapan was brought back to Cincinnati two years ago after being on loan to the Los Angeles Zoo. It also spent time in Florida’s White Oak conservation centre.

It will join Andalas at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, where the latter lives with three females and its one male offspring, born in 2012, on the Indonesia island. With three Sumatran rhinos in a sanctuary in Malaysia and Harapan, there are only nine in captivity globally. Some scientists recently concluded that there are no more Sumatran rhinos living in the wild in Malaysia. AP