Sumatran and Javan Rhino Protection

The Critically Endangered Sumatran and Javan rhinoceros may be the most threatened of all land mammals on Earth. Fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos remain, primarily on Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The population of Javan rhinos numbers only around 65-68 animals. Over the past 10 years, however, losses of Sumatran and Javan rhino have been nearly eliminated in Indonesia through intensive anti-poaching and intelligence activities by IRF-funded Rhino Protection Units. The successes of these units have kept the two species from extinction and are critical for their continued population recovery. Sumatran rhinos are considered extinct in Malaysia, but a tiny population (no more than 10) has recently been found in Kalimantan on the Island of Borneo. Overall, the population of Sumatran rhinos has decreased at a rate of about 50% over the past 15 years, largely from habitat encroachment, deforestation and habitat fragmentation.

In Indonesia, IRF funds Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) which rigorously patrol forests to destroy snares and traps (the main method of poaching for these species) and apprehend poachers. By gathering intelligence from local communities, RPUs also proactively prevent poaching attempts before they take place. RPUs are effective in protecting the rhino from poachers - only five Sumatran rhinos have been lost to poachers since the inception of the program, and no Javan rhinos have been killed.

Eleven patrol units operate in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Sumatra, one of the highest priority areas for Sumatran megafauna. Approximately 15 Sumatran rhino inhabit the Park, along with 40-50 Sumatran tigers and around 500 Asian elephants. Nine patrol units operate in Way Kambas National Park, which has a resident population of about 30 Sumatran rhino and is also the site of the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. Five patrol units operate in Ujung Kulon National Park, home to the only remaining viable population of Javan rhinos in the world.

Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary

Sumatran Rhino Rosa in the Way Kambas National Park

Because of the challenges and uncertainties of conserving the Sumatran rhino, the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Asian Rhino Specialist Group recommended developing a captive breeding program as part of a larger population management strategy. In the early 1990s, managed propagation centers (known as "sanctuaries") were developed in native habitat in the range states, to which some captive rhinos were repatriated. The first center is the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) in Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. The SRS encompasses 100 hectares (250 acres) for propagation, research, and education, and received its first rhino in 1998. Until recently, the Sanctuary held only one pair of animals, which were not reproductively sound. The SRS is now home to nine animals, including calves born in 2012, 2016, 2022, and 2023. It is staffed by two full-time Indonesian veterinarians, 11 keepers, several administrative and support staff, and protection units.

Over the years, a number of circumstantial, medical, and management problems have been addressed and overcome. As a result, within the last decade, the husbandry and captive propagation of Sumatran rhinos has passed from its infancy to its adolescence. The International Rhino Foundation has been steadfastly working to address these issues with the expertise of numerous veterinarians and reproductive biologists.

The nine Sumatran rhinos living at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary serve as ambassadors for their wild counterparts; instruments for education for local communities and the general public; an "insurance population" that can be used to re-establish or revitalize wild populations that have been eliminated or debilitated; an invaluable resource for basic and applied biological research; and, in the future, as sources of animals for reintroductions, once threats have been ameliorated in the wild.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020

Indian Rhinoceros

In 2007, in partnership with the Assam Forest Department, WWF-India, and the USFWS, the International Rhino Foundation embarked on a project, Indian Rhino Vision 2020, with the aim of increasing the population of Indian rhinos in Assam, India, to 3,000 in at least seven protected areas by the year 2020. The first translocations, from Pabitora to Manas National Park, took place in April 2008. Animals were radio-collared and regularly monitored to gauge the success of the reintroduction process. Joint government/community patrol units regularly patrolled the park to prevent poaching and encroachment and to monitor the new rhino population. Over the next 4 years, IRV 2020 moved 18 Indian rhinos from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaziranga National Park to Manas National Park, a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage site that had previously been home to a large rhino population before the poaching crisis. An additional eight rhinos were moved to Manas by the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation. In mid-2012, one of the female rhinos gave birth to the first calf born in Manas since rhino reintroductions began. Thirteen more rhinos births, including one second generation calf, have been born in the park since then – a sure sign that the translocated animals are adapting well to their new home.

Unfortunately, this population has also been touched by poaching – part of a region-wide increase in poaching in 2012-2013. After losing eight animals, IRV 2020 halted rhino translocations to Manas in 2013 to focus on improving security. Training in new patrolling methods, along with the support of new park leadership, has made a big difference – only one rhino was lost to poaching in Manas in 2014, and the current population of 33 translocated rhinos and new calves continues to thrive.

Zimbabwe Lowveld Rhino Program

Black Rhinoceros in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Zimbabwe is home to the world's fourth largest black rhino population after South Africa, Namibia and Kenya. Organized gangs of poachers slaughtered nearly one-quarter of the country's rhinos between 2007 and 2009, as once again southern African nations faced an upsurge in poaching activity. The renewed poaching activity has been driven primarily by demand from Asian markets, particularly Vietnam and China.

Formerly degraded land that was converted from cattle ranges to wildlife management areas, Zimbabwe's Lowveld region is now home to nearly 90% of the country's rhino population. These large land tracts operate as wildlife-based businesses that help safeguard a variety of threatened species. In early 2008, poaching in Zimbabwe reached critical levels and rhino numbers in the Lowveld began to decline for the first time since populations were established there in the early 1990s.

IRF works primarily in the lowveld conservancies of Zimbabwe.

The Lowveld Rhino Program concentrates its activities in two private conservancies where the majority of the rhino population lives and where there is still significant room for expansion – Save Valley and Bubye Valley Conservancies. The first black rhinos were introduced into Bubye Valley in 2002 – by 2012, the 100th black rhino had been born. Over the last 3 to 4 years, this population has been growing annually between 5 and 10%, which bodes well for the species' future in Zimbabwe. Based on the extent of available black rhino habitat in this region, the Lowveld Rhino Trust team is hopeful that another 100 calves could be born in the next 5 years.

Southern Africa Rhino Conservation Program

By the end of 2015, 1,342 rhinos had been killed by poachers in South Africa alone, overtaking the 1,215 rhinos slaughtered for their horns in 2014. About two-thirds of the killing has taken place in Kruger National Park, which shares a 221 porous miles of its 621-mile border with Mozambique.

IRF's "Operation: Stop Poaching Now" campaign aims to raise awareness and funding for 10 Ways to Fight Rhino Poaching:

• Boots on the Ground
• Special Training
• Early Warning and Community Involvement
• Investigation and Forensic Techniques
• Rhino Dogs
• Law Enforcement Crackdown
• Poaching Deterrents
• Translocating Rhinos to Safety
• Intensive Monitoring and Tracking
• Demand Reduction