Extinction of Javan Rhinoceros in Vietnam
WWF charity officials are sad to announce that the last Javan rhino in Vietnam has been killed after it was found with a bullet in its leg and horn removed. The death highlights the ineffective protection against poachers in the area, and security must be improved to ensure other threatened species will not be murdered, threatening the survival of their species.
Tran Thi Minh Hien, WWF-Vietnam Country Director, said –
The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone. It is painful that despite significant investment in the Vietnamese rhino population conservation efforts failed to save this unique animal. Vietnam has lost part of its natural heritage.
It is now believed that the Javan rhino is now only confined to a single population of less than 50 in a small national park in Indonesia. This puts the animal on the highly critical list of endangered species, and something drastically needs to be done. Plans need to be put into place now to help the protection and expansion of this small Indonesian population. In Vietnam alone the illegal wildlife trade has reduced the number of tigers, Asian elephants, snub-nosed monkeys and Siamese crocodiles to the verge of extinction.
Manager of WWF’s Species Programme in the Greater Mekong, Nick Cox, said –
The tragedy of the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros is a sad symbol of this extinction crisis. The single most important action to conserve Vietnam’s endangered species is protecting their natural habitat and deterring poaching and illegal wildlife trade – the report shows that these actions were inadequate to save the Javan rhino in Vietnam and this continued situation will no doubt lead to the extinction of many more species from Vietnam. Vietnam’s protected areas need more rangers, better training and monitoring, and more accountability.
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