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. Nikki

    Whats really scary is that people like Rhinoplasty show no sympathy for living creatures. Which also means they probably don't have sympathy for humans either. Typical serial killer trait.

    Those Rhno's and Dodo birds had families and feelings. You don't think that they were terrified in their last moments? Why would we want humans around that can carry out such acts of violence and not feel anything emotionally?

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

    @Nikki: Racism is a generalization based–get ready–RACE! Saying that most Asians are more interested in animals only for food and medicine is a generalization that you're applying to a racial group, without any consideration of cultural factors. It's also ignoring the role of the developed world in animal extinction. If we helped countries like Vietnam provide healthcare in the first place, these animals would not be going extinct. And then there are all of the white-owned corporations that encourage destruction of the environment. The issue of endangerment and extinction is a human problem; we all have a role to play in ending it. Do your part, instead of blaming one group of people.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:25 pm | Report abuse |
  3. bezerkur

    im very disappointed. im saddend and furious. i dont care what after life they believe in. but i know this that these poachers and others like them earn a special place in HEL where they will be hunted down and killed brutally over and over again forever.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:32 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Darketernal

    Well done for killing the last rhino!!!, afteral its no good if there's anything alive on this planet that's worth shooting isn't it? It has to be shot for profit , who cares if nothing is left for future generations. Short term thinking in its finest and purest form!!!

    October 25, 2011 at 4:33 pm | Report abuse |
  5. George

    Hey, I heard from an old respectable shaman that ground up human testacles cures a huge variety of diseases which includes asthma, pms, bone loss, some forms of cancer, and of course, erectile dysfunction. Spread the word.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:34 pm | Report abuse |
  6. jorge washinsen

    The dummies must not have heard of Viagra.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:35 pm | Report abuse |
  7. BKS

    One way to fight it would to try to breed them in captivity if that happened with this Rino type prob have a replacement. Even breeding them for the horn just pute it out to sleep and saw the horn off. Grow another one.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:36 pm | Report abuse |
    • jorge washinsen

      You can not bargain with ignorance.

      October 25, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Report abuse |
  8. jorge washinsen

    I like Forest Gump's mothers description of these embeciles.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:36 pm | Report abuse |
  9. George

    Hey, I heard from an old respectable shaman that ground up human testacles cures a huge variety of diseases which includes asthma, pms, bone loss, some forms of cancer, and of course, erectile dysfunction. Spread the word

    October 25, 2011 at 4:36 pm | Report abuse |
    • jorge washinsen

      I feel sure the only thing you would get is a reduction in the population which seems in this case a plus.

      October 25, 2011 at 4:40 pm | Report abuse |
  10. BKS

    These days prob clone it back.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm | Report abuse |
    • m

      heh maybe did they get a female to make the baby?

      October 25, 2011 at 4:54 pm | Report abuse |
  11. vlad the implaer

    if dolphins were so smart, they wouldnt get trapped in those little nets.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:41 pm | Report abuse |
    • Fractal

      It seems to be analogous to... if people are smart they wouldn't be hoodwinked by politicians/so-called leaders of all kinds.

      October 25, 2011 at 4:59 pm | Report abuse |
    • Werewolfie

      They're smart, just not smart enough to figure out how to avoid the nets.

      October 25, 2011 at 5:01 pm | Report abuse |
    • ThoughtProcess

      If humans were so smart, they would be able to live at balance with the world around them.

      October 25, 2011 at 5:12 pm | Report abuse |
  12. Moe Green

    1 animal... they couldn't protect 1 lousey animal...

    October 25, 2011 at 4:42 pm | Report abuse |
  13. Person

    Whether or not this has a direct impact on human wellbeing is beside the point. I don't understand why some people on on this forum think that it is acceptable to drive a species to extinction because it is deemed 'unimportant'.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:44 pm | Report abuse |
  14. mary

    It's amazing.. We know for sure, even if there is another "earth" out there.. We could never get to it.. Yet we continue to disrespect this one jewel in the universe that we call home.
    Killing off animals, destroying the land and the oceans, the air .. People killing each other..
    AS if "easy come, easy go"... Just amazing...
    Man is the most destructive "animal".. created. Or "evolved".. How ever you want to view it, man will be the end of it all.He is the last ...He will make sure of it.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:48 pm | Report abuse |
    • rkt210

      So what about the thousands upon thousands of species that became extinct before man was on the scene?

      October 25, 2011 at 5:11 pm | Report abuse |
  15. loui

    It's the damn chinese's fault. they're the root of all problems in the world today.

    October 25, 2011 at 4:49 pm | Report abuse |
    • m

      just that stupid natural cure crap thinking about them horns

      October 25, 2011 at 4:55 pm | Report abuse |
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