KOTA KINABALU: The focus on increasing the birth rate of Sumatran rhinos should be facilitated under a single programme for Indonesia and Malaysia.
The call was made by the Sabah government through the State Wildlife Department, the Borneo Rhino Alliance and World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia for the two countries to focus on increasing birth of the critically endangered species.
This means that every remaining Sumatran rhino is facilitated to contribute to the survival of the genus, and that every rhino, whether reproductively optimum or not, contributes eggs or sperm or cells.
For the effort, Sabah reiterates its offer to allow Indonesia to utilise the eggs from the last remaining Sumatran rhino in Malaysia, a female called Iman, now at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said this in a statement issued by WWF-Malaysia.
“Malaysia also offers its expertise and experiences through its work on rhino conservation in Sabah in the hope that together we are able to reverse the Sumatran rhino’s fate,” said Liew who is also Tourism, Culture and Environment minister.
The collaboration by the two countries should also be supported by scientists and experts working on the ground to save the species from extinction.
BORA executive chairman Professor Abdul Hamid Ahmad said using the sperm and eggs of rhinos that can no longer breed naturally to initiate in vitro fertilization attempts is long overdue.
"Let the willing specialists work together now to make it happen,” he urged.
Additionally, WWF-Malaysia offered the support of the WWF network to facilitate the collaboration between the two governments of Malaysia and Indonesia, Chief Executive Officer of WWF-Malaysia Sophia Lim said.
“We are optimistic that if we act now and act together, the extinction of the genus Dicerorhinus can be wholly prevented,” she said.
The organisation will also highlight the issue during the largest scientific conference - the five day International Congress on Conservation Biology (ICCB) 2019 – hosted by Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur until Friday.
In 1985, there were a few hundred Sumatran rhinos alive. Now, the number has dwindled.
In May this year, Iman became the last surviving rhino in Malaysia following the death of Tam or Kertam.
The decline in the rhino population over the past few decades is due to the inability of most wild rhinos to find a mate, and the inability of most wild females to reproduce.
The death of Tam this year should not only be a wakeup call for Malaysia.
Instead, it should be a call that reverberates throughout the region to ensure that the Sumatran rhino does not go extinct – a path that the species is almost certain to tread if collective action is not taken immediately.
Experienced Sumatran rhino conservationists believe that there are simply not enough fertile Sumatran rhinos left alive in the world to save the genus unless decisive action is taken now by the human species.
One of the essential ways forward now is through the application of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), which will help boost the ability of the last remaining Sumatran rhinos to breed.