By Jennifer Green
One of the few ‘critically-endangered’ Javan rhinos left in Vietnam has just been found shot dead by poachers, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Rangers discovered the rhino carcass just over two weeks ago within Cat Tien National Park, South Vietnam, but they believe it could have been killed more than three months ago.
Possibly the rarest large mammal on earth, authorities believe there are less than 60 Javan rhinos existing in the wild and under five of these can be found in Vietnam.
One of the park officials, Bach Thanh Hai, said that the rhino had been shot through the leg before poachers removed its horn.
Rhino horn, believed by some to have healing properties, used to be traded legally for use in Traditional Chinese Medicines and Javan rhino population numbers rapidly declined as a result.
But in 1975, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora made the international trade of Javan rhino products illegal.
Yet surveys have discovered that the horn fetches a price as high as $30,000 per kg on the black market, encouraging poachers to continue hunting the species.
“This is a devastating development for the long-term prospects of this critically-endangered species,” said Barney Long, WWF Senior Program Officer for Asian Species.
“This loss is symbolic of the grim situation facing Vietnam’s many endangered species, including rhinos, elephants, tigers and the saola.”
Conservationists are now debating whether or not the Vietnamese population of Javan rhino has any chance of survival. Some say that the population could [still recover][ Go to WWF page on recovery], while others are arguing that rhinos will need to be introduced from the Indonesian population.
This is unfortunately a continuing problem in the conservation of rare species. The fact that they are rare drives an increasing economic interest in these species that often outweighs the potential punishment for poaching. Money talks in these situations and it is possible that the solution to this kind of poaching could lie in grass roots conservation programs. Providing individuals with the tools to protect their local environments rather than excluding them from it can provide the best basis for sustainable management schemes.
Javan rhinos are beautiful creatures and to see their numbers are so critical makes this story even more saddening. This particular rhino probably went through a lot of pain before passing away. These poachers are brutal and more action must be taken to stop them.
Brenda
Should time, money and effort be spent on saving the megafauna (the polar bears, the tigers, the rhinos, etc) or the more useful microfauna (invertebrates, detritivores etc). I realise it is hard to create a campaign that highlights the plights of slugs and snails (and puppy dog tails - may be not so much on the last one) but may be whilst we are readdressing the cultural and medicinal aspects of a society we should also address our time, money and effort into the more important floral and faunal aspects of biodiversity. By the way, Saturday is the International Biodiversity Day.
Just a side thing, I can't subscribe to the RSS feed, I am forbidden - any reason why?
Sorry Peter, I will find out for you!
Jenn, the RSS thing seems to be working now, so no worries. Probably just my Mac playing silly beggars. Thanks
Just out of interest Peter, there has been a lot of interest in puppy dogs' tails. Just Google 'tail-docking' and you'll see what I mean.
Jennifer - that's a very sad tale (no pun intended) indeed! I do think that we must do what we can to prevent wholesale slaughter of a species, although I take the point Peter, that the sponsorship of such action must not be made in isolation and without regard to the plight of a broad-spectrum of species.