Javan Rhinos’ Disappearance Raises Concern Over Threat to Conservation
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry emphasized that so far there has been no evidence of the deaths of as many as 15 Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park.
The Ujung Kulon National Park Agency has published a photo of the mother and calf of the Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus). During March-August 2015, three Javan rhino births were observed and recorded in Ujung Kulon.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Ujung Kulon National Park (TNUK), the only remaining habitat of the Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus), is feared to be in a critical condition, given a recent report that as many as 15 of the population of some 80 have not been captured by surveillance cameras in the last three years.
Suspicions about illegal hunting have arisen with surveillance camera footage showing trespassers armed with guns, believed to be poachers, and several large animal traps found in the field. If the threats are not tackled, the survival of the Javan rhinos, which are threatened by inbreeding, could suffer the same fate as the Javan tiger, which has been declared extinct since the 1980s.