Last rare rhinoceros in Vietnam killed by poacher, group says
The killing of the last Javan rhinoceros means the population is gone forever from Vietnam, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
October 25th, 2011
09:40 AM ET

Last rare rhinoceros in Vietnam killed by poacher, group says

Vietnam's rare Javan rhinoceros was declared extinct in that area after poachers killed the last remaining animal in the country for its horns, the World Wildlife Fund said.

“Vietnam must see this loss as another warning sign of its looming wave of species extinctions,” Dr. Barney Long, WWF’s Asian species expert, said in a statement. “The single most important action that is needed to save remaining threatened species like tigers and elephants is protection.”

The country had been struggling to keep the population alive amid widespread poaching that the WWF said was the cause of many Asian rhino species being brought to the "brink of extinction."

The WWF said people in certain parts of Asia believe the horns, when ground down and dissolved in boiling water, help treat typhoid fever or even cancer, the WWF said, noting that there has been no scientific proof of that.

The group said trying to bring the species back into the area won't work.

“Reintroduction of the rhinoceros to Vietnam is not economically or practically feasible," WWF’s Asian Elephant and Rhino Program Coordinator Dr. Christy Williams said.  "It is gone from Vietnam forever."

So now, the Javan rhino only exists in one area in the world, according to the WWF.

The Javan rhinoceros is in danger of becoming extinct.

The group reported that there is one population of less than 50 animals in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Now, workers will turn their attention there, working with anti-poaching patrols to hopefully keep the species from going extinct.

“For the Javan rhino, we now have to focus entirely on one site in Indonesia where strengthened protection is needed along with fast-tracking the proposed translocation and habitat management,” Long said.

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Filed under: Rhinos • Vietnam
soundoff (878 Responses)
  1. jack

    For what ever reason(s) they feel they need the horns, my question has always been, when they're gone, what do you do then?

    October 25, 2011 at 3:55 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Susan M

    That's because they kill so many girls at birth. There aren't otherwise enough women to go around to keep them distracted.

    October 25, 2011 at 3:56 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Julie

    Congratulations to CNN for their heroic effort to find the worst possible photos of a Javan Rhino. This way we won't miss 'em 'cos we never even knew what they looked like.
    And before anyone cusses the Vietnamese too badly, consider the USAs animal preservation history. Plus, our own huge population makes reintroduction of species often seem like an exercise in cruelty. In the Black Hills of SD for example, mountain lions were reintroduced about a decade ago. But thanks to poor land management, which allows people to build houses throughout the area, rendering the National Forest a patchwork joke – the lions keep coming into contact with humans. This results in the lion being often, if not usually, killed. So they have a yearly "harvest" of 25 to 50 lions. Then people complain the lions are eating all the elk calves and killing horses and goats (which they're apparently too lazy to put in a shed at night). So THOSE "nuisance" lions are killed too.
    "Reintroduction" for a lot of mountain lions means being born to be killed.

    What the world really needs is fewer and smarter humans.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:00 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Cynthia

    Another reason why "Life Without People" is my favorite show. Glad it won't be long before I check out of this looney bin.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:06 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Nick

    "Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment; but humans do not. Instead we multiply, and multiply, until every resource is consumed. The only way for us to survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern... a virus." – quoted from "The Matrix" but so true.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:08 pm | Report abuse |
  6. TruameriIkan

    Just think...when all of the Rhinos are gone the ignorant people that hunted them to extintion will alll die from their diseases or won't be able to procreate because the can't "get it up".

    October 25, 2011 at 4:09 pm | Report abuse |
  7. schmeeky

    Once a cesspool, always a cesspool.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:11 pm | Report abuse |
  8. biorsel

    Well, we are approaching 7 BILLIONS in population on earth, we need to legalize human gourmet as one way of controlling it! And when the number come down to 7 figures then we can start cry foul about it...

    October 25, 2011 at 4:16 pm | Report abuse |
  9. TruameriIkan

    Hey!!!! Maybe it was this rhino's doodoo that was putting something in the ecosystem that was keeping the cure for cancer from being found?

    With the rhinos gone the cure for cancer might be just around the corner.

    What I said is about as ignorant as a lot of the other posts I've read.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:18 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Cythara

    It is important that species die off so that rich Chinese men can get their rocks off!

    October 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm | Report abuse |
  11. Peter

    Thank you for your thoughtful, intelligent comment. Now, get off the computer because your neighborhood bar is about to open.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:20 pm | Report abuse |
  12. chbdujlhlkh

    By "neighborhood bar" do you mean your wife's legs?

    October 25, 2011 at 4:20 pm | Report abuse |
  13. SeanNJ

    Species go extinct all the time. The cause is irrelevant. Nothing to see. Move along.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:21 pm | Report abuse |
    • Rosiepose

      Yes, they do, because man is such an ignorant, greedy, sadistic idiot!!!!.........

      October 25, 2011 at 4:28 pm | Report abuse |
    • Big George in Big D

      Idiot!

      October 25, 2011 at 4:36 pm | Report abuse |
    • What?

      Idiot is right!

      October 25, 2011 at 4:36 pm | Report abuse |
    • What?

      Tool

      October 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm | Report abuse |
  14. Red Nek

    Easy on the redneck's there sister. Without us grits would have gone the way of the dodo and automobile races would also have right turns. So if you intend to insult the venerable redneck with your keyboard venom you should visit a time machine and go back to the night that your parents met and beg them to use birth control.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:23 pm | Report abuse |
    • Reason & Logic

      Grits is not on my menu, automobile racing is not my pastime, Country music sucks, and I don't drink alcohol so I could care less about rednecks and their contribution to society.

      October 25, 2011 at 4:30 pm | Report abuse |
    • Big George in Big D

      @Reason & Logic – from what rock did you crawl out from under?

      October 25, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Report abuse |
  15. Eagle Eye

    Thank Allah! I covet my lemon grass rhino and my neighbors wife!

    October 25, 2011 at 4:24 pm | Report abuse |
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