- Source: The Age
-
- Disease has wiped out the entire population of rare Sumatran
rhinoceroses
- at a captive breeding program in Malaysia. The last of
7 Sumatran rhinos at
- the Sungai Dusun Rhino Conservation Centre in central
Malaysia died
- yesterday, bringing to an end a 16-year program that
is one of just a
- handful in the world trying to save the species.
-
- The Sumatran is the smallest of the world's 5 types of
rhinos and among the
- rarest of large mammals. Fewer than 300 are believed
to be living in the
- wild, mostly in Malaysia and Indonesia, and are being
threatened by
- poachers and loss of habitat.
-
- Malaysian Rhino Foundation chairman Mohamad Khan Mohmin
Khan said
- scientists were trying to identify the exact cause of
death, but a
- pneumonia-like infection was suspected. Officials at
the centre have denied
- suggestions that the animals were kept in unhygienic
conditions.
-
- 5 of the centre's 7 animals died in the past 3 weeks.
"They became
- inactive, then they started having difficulty in breathing,
after that they
- slowly lay down and it became difficult for them to get
up," Mr Khan said.
- "Some of them were with us for 16 years and we loved
them very much."
-
- The International Rhino Foundation said a small number
of animals living
- close to the conservation centre were particularly vulnerable
to disease.
-
- "Random events such as the deaths at Sungai Dusun
are always a risk for
- small populations, whether in the wild or in captivity,"
the foundation's
- program director, Thomas Foose, said.
-
- http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/18/1069027115571.html
-
-
- ProMED-mail
- promd@promedmail.org
-
- Source: Taipei Times
-
- The sudden deaths of 5 Sumatran rhinos at a Malaysian
sanctuary have dealt
- a heavy blow to efforts to save the fast-dwindling species
from extinction.
-
- Since 29 Oct 2003, all 5 animals at peninsular Malaysia's
Sungai Dusun
- rhinoceros center have succumbed to what is believed
to be acute blood
- poisoning following bacterial infection.
-
- The deaths throw a bleak spotlight on the state of the
world's most
- critically endangered rhino species and raise questions
about Malaysia's
- captive breeding effort, yet to bear fruit after 2 decades.
-
- The country now has just 2 rhinos in captivity, in Sabah
state on Borneo.
- Habitat loss and the poaching of animals for their horns
and skin, for use
- in sex potions of dubious benefit, have taken a terrible
toll on the
- Sumatran rhino (_Dicerorhinus sumatrensis_). Only about
300 survive in the
- wild in Southeast Asia.
-
- Although Javan rhinos (_Rhinoceros sondaicus_) are rarer,
wildlife experts
- say their numbers have steadied at about 60 in Indonesia
and a few in Vietnam.
-
- He said the first of the 5 animals to die had just come
in from a separate
- paddock, suggesting that the infection might have been
brought in from
- outside the stalls.
-
- Mohd Khan, who was on hand for Malaysia's first capture
of a wild Sumatran
- rhino in 1984, said, "We know captive breeding is
possible from the success
- of the Cincinnati Zoo."
-
- http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2003/11/19/2003076477
-
- --
- ProMED-mail
- <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- This is sad news for the rhinos. Information on the captive
breeding
- program in Malaysia and the efforts of the veterinary
team to save these
- rhinos can be found at http://www.rhinos-irf.org/. -
Mod.TG
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
|
