Introduction to the Rhino Protection Unit programme, Sumatra
The Sumatran rhino – a critically endangered species
The two most endangered species of rhinoceros on the planet are the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and the Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus). Both species are on the brink of extinction, primarily due to unsustainable exploitation from poachers but secondarily and increasingly because of habitat loss.
About 300 Sumatran rhino survive in the wild, almost entirely in Indonesia and Malaysia (both Peninsula and Sabah). Only about 60 Javan rhino survive, mostly in Indonesia, but also precariously in Vietnam. Although more numerous, the Sumatran is probably the more endangered of the two species because it is under more pressure from poachers.
Save the Rhino International, through its support in the mid-1990s for the Sumatran Rhino Survey in Kerinci Seblat National Park, was instrumental in revealing the severity of the situation. At the time, Kerinci Seblat was believed to contain the world’s largest population (maybe 300 or more), but Philip Wells and Neil Franklin discovered that the species had been virtually annihilated. They even found notes engraved by poachers on tree trunks, marking which areas had been poached to extinction.
Poaching and habitat loss – some background
The main problem for the rhino is its horn, in much the same way as the elephant and its tusks. Rhino horn, which is made of keratin, a substance also found in human hair and tusks, has been extensively used to make ornamental dagger handles in the Middle East and for traditional medicine in the Far East, where it is used as a fever suppressant.
Poachers kill rhinos using a variety of different methods, including snaring, shooting, trapping in a pit, electrocution, poisoning and spearing. Rhino horn largely follows historical trading routes, in that horn from rhinos in East Africa tends to end up in the Yemen; while that from rhinos in southern Africa and Asia tends to be destined for the Far East. However, all trade in rhino horn is banned by CITES (the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species) and illegal under international law. Sumatran (and Indian and Javan) rhino horns are much smaller than those of the black and white rhinos found in Africa, and it is believed that they are considered more potent in medicinal use and therefore command much higher prices. Work is being done to investigate the illegal trade in rhino horn, but addressing the supply, as well as the demand, is vital.
Poaching is not the only problem for Sumatran rhinos. As political and economic flux continues in Indonesia, people are ever more desirous and desperate for sources of income, which often entails short-term and even shorter-sighted unsustainable exploitation of and encroachment into the National Parks and their wildlife. Loss of habitat has become a very serious threat to the rhino in Way Kambas National Park and other protected areas. Way Kambas, for example, has lost about 10% (120 sq km) of its total area (1,200 sq km) to the encroachers so far. Unless the governmental authorities, central as well as especially provincial (which now have more control over protected areas), are willing and able to arrest and reverse this encroachment, all of Way Kambas National Park could be lost within a decade or even sooner.
The formation of the Rhino Protection Units
By the early 1990s, it had become clear that drastic measures were required. A new organisation, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), joined with the IUCN/SSC Asian Rhino Specialist to establish special anti-poaching teams known as Rhino Protection Units (RPUs).
The RPU programme initially established nine teams in the three of the four major areas occupied by Sumatran Rhino in southern Sumatra: three in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park; three in Way Kambas National Park; and three in Kerinci Seblat National Park. The programme has since been expanded to 14 teams in total, due to the deteriorating situation for conservation in Indonesia caused by the economic and political crises and changes.
The primary function of the RPUs is to conduct frequent and intensive patrols in the forest to detect and destroy/confiscate snares/traps and to apprehend suspected poachers. They also engage in intelligence operations and community outreach activities to facilitate the anti-poaching work.
The RPUs have been effective from their inception. In areas where they operate, there has been only one known loss of a rhino to poachers. The RPUs actually discovered this rhino alive in a poacher snare but were unable to save its life although they did prevent the poachers from collecting the animal. In making regular patrols, they also deter any further activity from poachers, including those from a notorious village on the edge of Kerinci Seblat National Park, who were responsible for the virtual annihilation (prior to the advent of the RPUs) of the once large population of rhino there.