Javan Rhinos Now Extinct in Vietnam

We are sad to report that a recent analysis has confirmed the extinction of the Javan rhino in Vietnam.  Data from a genetic analysis of 22 dung samples, collected by the Park and a WWF survey team from 2009 - 2010, confirmed that all of the samples belonged to one individual rhinoceros.  That same individual that was found dead in the park in April 2010, with a bullet in its leg and the horn removed – a clear case of poaching.  The study was undertaken by Queen’s University in Canada, funded by both IRF and WWF, and revealed that there were at least two rhinos alive when dung samples had been collected in 2004.

The Vietnam population of Javan rhinos was only discovered in 1988.  From the mid-1990s, a number of organizations were heavily involved in efforts to conserve the rhinos in Cat Tien National Park, but ultimately, ineffective protection – a problem in most protected areas in Vietnam - caused the species’ extinction.  

The Javan rhinoceros now numbers less than 44 animals, all living in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park.  We believe that there are only three to five breeding females in that population.  Four Rhino Protection Units, funded by IRF and operated through our partner, Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI) have prevented poaching for more than 16 years.  

The loss of the Vietnam rhinos makes IRF’s work in Ujung Kulon even more important, as that population now represents the only hope for the species.  Over the past year, IRF, through its implementing partner Yayasan Badak Indonesia (Rhino Foundation of Indonesia) and supported by the Asian Rhino Project, Save the Rhino International, WWF, and other donors, has been working to expand the useable habitat for Javan rhinos in UKNP by creating the 4,000 hectare Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area (JRSCA).  The project intensifies active management in Gunung Honje (in the eastern portion of the park), with the short-term objective of providing more habitat to allow the population to increase.  We are doing this by constructing small bridges, an electric fence, and a patrol road; eradicating invasive species which have taken over a good portion of the habitat; planting rhino food plants; providing a water supply and saltlick; and constructing additional guard posts.   The continued survival of the Javan rhino depends on their population increasing in numbers as rapidly as possible, and in spreading the population out so that ‘all the eggs are not in one basket’.  The JRSCA eventually will serve as a ‘staging ground’ from which translocations to a suitable, secure second site can occur.