(MY) doomed rhinos

[Guest guest]

Heavy support- The Star - 27th November 2007

 

Funding from Honda has lent a lifeline to Sumatran rhinos, which are

in danger of dying out.

 

By TAN CHENG LI

chengli

 

WIPING away the sweat dripping down my face, I struggle up the

thicket-covered slope. At the ridge top, trees with huge buttresses,

the markings of an untouched forest, tower over us. A barely

discernible trail lies ahead.

 

" This is the animal trail used by wildlife, including rhinos, " says

Richard Sanggul.

 

" Do you see any signs that rhinos have walked this way recently? " I ask.

 

 

Gotcha! A still from a two-minute video footage of a Sumatran rhino in

Danum, Sabah.

" No, " comes the reply. " The rhinos follow a feeding trail. So

sometimes it takes them many months to complete the route. "

 

Bummer. And so our elusive quarry remain out of sight during our

three-hour walk in the untamed forest of Danum Valley Conservation

Area in Sabah. What chance do I have of spotting a rhino, when even a

forest ranger like Sanggul, who has surveyed the area for the past two

years, has never once caught a glimpse of the animal?

 

The closest I got to a rhino that day was seeing the wallows where the

animal has its mud bath. But it was probably there months ago,

according to Sanggul.

 

The short traipse through the forest gave me a taste of what the WWF

Rhino Patrol does. Teams of four to five rangers would trek through

the rugged terrain of Sabah, spending between five and 10 days in the

forest each time, in search of rhinos – or more likely, signs which

they leave behind. At the same time, motion-sensing cameras

strategically tied to trees aim to capture images of rhinos and other

wildlife.

 

The collected information on rhino population, ecology and habitat

needs contributes to efforts to protect the critically endangered

species. A RM5mil support from Honda has spawned the five-year project

to safeguard the species. The car manufacturer's backing since 2006

has made possible the formation of Rhino Patrol units, training of

rangers in Sumatra and Africa, use of camera traps and development of

a Rhino Action Plan.

 

Threat of extinction

 

The threat of extinction is very real for Sumatran rhinos

(Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Their population has plunged to fewer than

24 in Sabah and 60 in Peninsular Malaysia due to poaching (their horns

are used in folk cures) and shrinking habitats. They are believed to

be extinct in Sarawak.

 

 

If their declining numbers are not reversed, the species will be

extinct in Malaysia in the next 15 to 20 years.

 

In Sabah, only two sites with viable rhino populations remain: Greater

Danum (consisting of Danum Valley Conservation Area and forests

bordering it, Malua and Ulu Segama) and Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

Solitary rhinos inhabit four to six other forested sites that remain

undisclosed to deter hunting. The ones in Borneo are a sub-species

named Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni.

 

Much attention is centred on the Danum Valley Conservation Area, a

contiguous 43,800ha of protected forest 83km from Lahad Datu on

Sabah's east coast. The site holds much promise as it hosts a breeding

rhino population; surveys have found signs of at least three calves.

 

The rangers' jaunts in the wilds of Danum have uncovered several

hundred rhino footprints, the largest of which measured a good 23cm

across and the smallest, 16cm.

 

Motion-triggered cameras have so far captured rare images of wild

rhinos, including video footage lasting two minutes.

 

As we trudge through the forest of Danum, WWF rangers eagerly share

their knowledge, much of which was picked up during training stints at

Way Kambas park in Sumatra – a highly reputable Sumatran rhino

sanctuary – where they learnt to identify signs of rhino presence.

 

Rhinos live jealously guarded lives, shying away from people as they

roam a highly inaccessible terrain of hilly lowland forest and swampy

jungle, and feeding in the cover of darkness at dawn and dusk. Lush

rainforests offer a grand feast for the rhino, a browser that chomps

on leaves, twigs, barks, fruits, canes and vines.

 

" They like to eat bamboo, figs and leaves of a wild ginseng plant, "

says ranger Gudil Porimin Gihud. He can tell if a rhino has passed

through just by observing surrounding foliage.

 

" A rhino will bite the top of saplings and leave behind a neat flat

cut. Deer will only nibble at leaves. "

 

And to mark their territory, rhinos do not just urinate; they bend and

twist saplings. Rangers can even differentiate rhino dung from the

elephant's – the balls of excreta are smaller, and consist of evenly

shredded twigs.

 

Wild rhinos spend much of the day soaking in muddy wallows to repel

insects and cool down.

 

In Danum, rangers have found 10 rhino wallows. These are depressions

carved into slopes by the rhinos' lumbering bodies and are discernible

from wallows used by wild boars or elephants from their size – they

usually measure 1m to 1.5m deep, as that is the average height of an

adult rhino.

 

Data on rhino food and dung might seem trivial and irrelevant to the

layman but wildlife managers need such information when drafting rhino

conservation strategies for incorporation into forest management

plans.

 

Securing the site

 

Being enveloped by the logging compartments of Malua and Ulu Segama

forests, Danum is not free of threats. Logging roads provide easy

access to hunters. So the rangers patrol not just the forest, but

roads too, to deter poaching.

 

 

Encroachment usually occurs in forests near timber camps that border

the conservation area, reveals WWF ranger Patrick Jonnas Sading, who

has found snares, bullet casings and trap holes during routine

patrols.

 

" This is mostly the work of timber workers hunting for sambar deer,

muntjacks and wild boars. "

 

During roadblocks carried out between one and three times a week by

the Rhino Patrol Unit, sometimes jointly with Sabah Forestry, the

Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Sabah Foundation (which owns the

Danum conservation area and its surrounding logging concessions),

vehicles exiting the site are checked for entry permits, weapons and

illegal trappings. Members of the WWF Rhino Patrol Team have been

appointed honorary wildlife wardens by SWD, enabling them to enforce

the Wildlife Enactment 1998.

 

Poaching has decimated wild rhino populations and remains a menace but

in recent years, the biggest threats to rhinos are habitat loss and

fragmentation due to logging and conversion of forests into other land

use, says Raymond Alfred, who leads the WWF Project Borneo Species

Programme.

 

To preserve Sabah's last rhino enclave, Alfred says forests around

Danum must remain intact and not succumb to expanding oil palm

estates, or the area might suffer the same fate as Tabin Wildlife

Reserve where rhino numbers have dwindled from the 20 in 1993. Located

50km from Lahad Datu and enclosed by oil palm estates, Tabin is easily

trespassed; its wildlife is fair game for plantation workers and

hunters.

 

" Protecting the habitat alone is not enough if it is surrounded by

access points. Our long-term goal is to ensure that Danum is not

bordered by oil palm [estates] as people can then get in easily, " says

Alfred. He urges that all rhino habitats be gazetted as Rhino

Protection Areas, with heavy penalties for encroachers.

 

Danum and Tabin appear to be the last sanctuaries for rhinos in Sabah,

but both sites must not be infringed upon or sliced up. Only then will

Sumatran rhinos have a shot at survival.