Sumatran Rhino Population Increases: Lampung, Sumatra

By Barrie | October 19th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Some rare good news for the threatened Sumatran rhinoceros has come out of Lampung. The Sumatran rhinoceros population in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park and Way Kambas National Park in Lampung has increased in the past nine years. A survey by the Rhino Protection Unit (RPU) and Yayasan Badak Indonesia in 2007 found the population of the rare animal had risen by between 24 and 30 rhinoceroses.

The coordinator of the RPU’s intelligence and law enforcement unit, Arief Rubiyanto, said the rhino population at Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park was 40 in 1998 and now reached between 60 and 85.

“The number of rhinoceros surviving in Way Kambas National Park was between 24 and 30 animals in 1997 and between 19 and 22 animals in 1998, but there has been a growth of five to eight animals in the past nine years,” Arief said.

He said the growing number of rhinos in the national parks was an unexpected surprise, given the difficulty rhinos have in breeding.

“We are also surprised because the growth comes amid constant threats from poachers and the encroachment of their habitat due to illegal logging and forest conversion,” Arief said.

He said the rising number of Sumatran rhinos was the result of hard work by the RPU in patrolling both parks and curbing poaching.

For these efforts, Arief received the Disney Conservation Award in 2007 from the Walt Disney Corporation.

However, rhinos in other parts of Sumatra have not fared as well.
In Kerinci Seblat National Park, the rhino population has dropped drastically since the 1990s.

Arief said according to data, only eight to 20 rhinos remained in the Bengkulu area of the park in 1995, less than 10 remained in Jambi and none existed in the South Sumatra and West Sumatra parts of the park.

“It is on the verge of extinction now, despite the fact that its population in the Kerinci Seblat National Park still numbered around 500 in the 1980s,” said Arief, former head of the park’s RPU.

Kerinci Seblat National Park is the largest national park on Sumatra island and one of the primary wildlife preserves in Indonesia. It covers 1,375,000 hectares, encompassing West Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jambi and South Sumatra.

Its habitat includes lowland secondary rain forest and mountainous areas.

Arief said the main cause for the dwindling Sumatran rhino population was illegal logging in South Sumatra and poaching in West Sumatra.

“The RPU team discovered 50 to 70 traps within an area of one square kilometer,” said the graduate of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

In addition to a general lack of public awareness of conservation, poaching is also triggered by the high prices that rhino horns command on the black market.

One ounce of rhino horn can fetch between Rp 16 million (approximately US$1,800) and Rp 20 million.

Rhinoceros horn is used as an ingredient for fever-reducing drugs, to treat skin problems and as an aphrodisiac.

Oyos Saroso H.N.