Sumatran Rhino Survival Alliance International Rhino Foundation Strategic Partner Report - Zoo Basel
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Sumatran Rhino Survival Alliance
International Rhino Foundation Strategic Partner Report
June 2020
Though much of the world is shut down to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, IRF’s
critical conservation work continues. For species teetering on the brink of extinction, like the
Sumatran rhino, every day counts, and we must move forward -- as safely as possible -- with
essential protection and conservation programs.
Barely hanging on in fewer than ten fragmented sub-populations, the Sumatran rhino is so
rare - no more than 80 survive - that only a handful of people have ever seen one in the wild.
Despite protection, the species has decreased by more than 70 percent over the past 30
years. It now exists only in Indonesia. In the isolated pockets in which Sumatran rhinos live, it
can be difficult for breeding-age animals to encounter one another. Like many rhino species,
reproductive problems ensue if females do not become pregnant. In 2018, the Government of
Indonesia and rhino experts from around the world reached a consensus that the only way to
bring the Sumatran rhino back from the brink is to consolidate the widely dispersed,
fragmented wild populations into managed breeding facilities like our Sumatran Rhino
Sanctuary (SRS) in Way Kambas National Park.
Under the leadership of the Indonesian government, the International Rhino Foundation,
National Geographic, the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Global Wildlife Conservation,
and WWF launched the Sumatran Rhino Rescue project on September 22, 2018. Local
NGOs, YABI (southern Sumatra), WWF-Indonesia and ALeRT (Kalimantan), and Forum
Konservasi Leuser (northern Sumatra) are implementing the program.
Since the program was launched, eight other conservation organizations have joined our
Alliance as strategic partners, providing critical financial and technical support to our efforts.
We are particularly grateful to you, the strategic partners who have joined the Alliance
through IRF – your support has ensured that we can continue our vital work to breed
Sumatran rhinos at the SRS, and to eventually move new rhinos into the facility, even during
this extremely challenging time. IRF is pleased to share this update with you.
1
SUMATRAN RHINO HUSBANDRY BOARD
Last year, with the approval
of the Indonesian
government, our Alliance
created the Sumatran
Rhino Rescue Husbandry
and Propagation
Management Advisory
Board. The board, made up
of Indonesian and
international experts on
Sumatran rhino biology and
reproduction, is tasked with
reviewing the status of all
Sumatran rhinos in captivity
and making breeding
recommendations to
maximize the species’ Young female Delilah has now happily moved into her own
population growth. The enclosure at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas, and
Husbandry Board held its her parents, Ratu and Andalas, are breeding again.
second meeting in March
2020, via zoom. The board made specific, detailed reproductive recommendations for all
eight rhinos currently in captivity in Indonesia.
Specific recommendations (confidential) included:
● Female Ratu (has already given birth to two calves) should continue to be bred
naturally with males Andalas and/or Harapan.
● Female Bina (has never conceived) should continue to be bred naturally, but IVF
should also be explored.
● Female Rosa (has lost eight pregnancies) should undergo surgery to remove a benign
tumor from her uterine wall that could be contributing to her lost pregnancies.
● Young female Delilah (not yet sexually mature) should be regularly monitored.
● Male Andalas should be bred with Ratu and Rosa at every opportunity.
● Male Harapan should be regularly introduced to females to learn how to breed.
● Male Andatu (now sexually mature) should be introduced to Bina and Rosa to learn
how to breed.
● Female Pahu (at Kelian SRS) should continue to undergo reproductive assessments.
These and other recommendations have been submitted to the government of Indonesia for
approval. (More detail on the breeding program will be provided below.)
The Alliance has hired Jeff Holland, a rhino expert who participated in the Sumatran rhino
captures during the 1980s, as Training, Husbandry, and Capture Senior Advisor. Jeff is now
facilitating the Husbandry Board meetings. He is also working with Indonesian staff and
experts to create standard operating procedures for all captures.
2
The Husbandry Board has also begun coordination with the Indonesian government and
universities to create an Advanced Reproductive Technology (ART) program for Sumatran
rhinos, under the leadership of Dr. Mohammed Agil. An ART center and biobank for
Sumatran rhino material will be created at Indonesian university Institut Pertanian Bogor
(IPB).
RHINO SURVEYS
The Alliance is working to create
species-level protocols and
expertise in surveying, captures
and translocations, and husbandry.
IRF is tasked with coordinating
training on these and other topics.
Trajectory survey training has been
held for each region with
Indonesian experts. Standardized
survey methodology is being used
in all three regions, with surveys
currently underway in Kalimantan,
the Leuser Ecosystem, and Way
Kambas National Park. In each
region, surveys are conducted
using a grid system. The survey
Sumatran rhino footprint in Gunung Leuser
team searches intensively within
(courtesy of FKL).
each square for 10 days, looking
for any rhino signs (wallows,
footprints, feces, and feeding signs). If no rhino signs are found, then that square is crossed
off, and the team moves on to the next square in the grid. If rhino signs are found, then
another team is called in to begin following and tracking the signs, so that the rhino can
eventually be located and a pit trap (or traps) can be constructed along the rhino’s normal
routes.
Currently, using survey data, six individual rhinos are being tracked -- one in Way Kambas,
one in Kalimantan, and four in Leuser (confidential).
In Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, we are still unsure how many rhinos survive. Rhino
Protection Units there continue to find some rhino signs, but no rhinos have been recorded
on camera traps for several years. Rather than running transect surveys at this time, we have
agreed to set up camera traps (211 in total) along grids where RPUs have found rhino signs.
Camera trap data will be collected and reviewed over the next few months, to determine how
to move forward in Bukit Barisan Selatan.
CAPTURES AND TRANSLOCATIONS
IRF hired rhino translocation expert Dr. Markus Hofmyer, former head veterinarian for South
Africa’s National Parks (SANParks), to develop and provide capture and translocation
3
training. We held an initial “sharing experience” on capture and translocation protocols with
participants from across Indonesia at the Way Kambas SRS in January 2020. A second,
formal training was scheduled for June 2020, but has been postponed because of the
pandemic. We currently hope to reschedule it in November or December.
In Kalimantan, implementing
partner WWF Indonesia
captured one female
Sumatran rhino, who is now
being housed in a small
sanctuary built in Kelian
where she is undergoing
reproductive assessments.
Another Sumatran rhino has
now been located in a
particularly remote area of
Kalimantan, but surveys and
patrols are not currently
allowed in Kalimantan as
villages are afraid of outsiders
spreading COVID.
Pahu, the first Sumatran rhino captured as part of the
The implementing partners in
Sumatran Rhino Rescue project, was caught in a pit trap,
North and South Sumatra
ushered into a crate, and then moved via truck to a
have submitted official
temporary boma for health assessments. Photo courtesy
requests to the government of
Indonesia to be allowed to of WWF Indonesia.
capture rhinos. YABI has officially requested permission from the government of Indonesia to
capture up to three rhinos from Way Kambas (one male and two females), this year. The
process is more complicated in Kalimantan, where local villages and provinces have more
control and are resistant to rhino captures.
Each region has established its preferred timeline for captures, generally during the dry
season, which varies from region to region. In South Sumatra, the dry season runs from April
through October. But, because water becomes scarce during this time, deep wells may need
to be dug near pit traps. In the Leuser ecosystem in Aceh, the period from January to August
is preferred. In Kalimantan, WWF Indonesia actually captured Pahu during the wet season.
But to capture the second rhino that has been identified in pocket one, a helicopter will be
needed, so weather will be an issue. The dry season in Kalimantan typically runs from July –
November.
SANCTUARIES AND CAPTIVE BREEDING
Kalimantan
The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry ended its agreement with WWF Indonesia, the main
implementing partner in Kalimantan, at the end of 2019. Alliance partners spent the first
4several months of 2020 working with the government and WWF Indonesia on transition plans
for the small sanctuary in Kelian, where female rhino Pahu is housed. Local NGO ALeRT
took over management of the Kalimantan program and the Kelian sanctuary. ALeRT was
already involved in construction of the sanctuary and is also conducting rhino surveys for the
Alliance. Unfortunately, ALeRT’s director, Marcel Adi, died suddenly last month. Doctors
suspected that he died of COVID-19, and the entire staff of the Kelian sanctuary was
quarantined and tested twice, but all have tested negative. ALeRT has now hired another
Indonesian rhino expert, Arief Rubianto, as its new director. The Ministry has also now
agreed to renegotiate a new agreement with WWF, but at this time, the Kelian sanctuary is
still being managed by ALeRT. There are no plans to expand or change the facility until
another rhino is captured in Kalimantan.
Leuser Ecosystem, Aceh, North Sumatra
Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL), the local implementing NGO in North Sumatra, operates
Wildlife Protection Teams (with partial funding from IRF) that patrol the Leuser ecosystem,
monitoring rhinos and other wildlife, removing traps and snares, and apprehending poachers.
Our goals in North Sumatra are to intensify protection of the wild population in West Leuser,
so that captive-bred rhinos can eventually be reintroduced there, and to rescue the East
Leuser rhinos (along with some reproductively viable West Leuser rhinos) and move them
into a new Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Aceh.
Last year, a team of NGO staff, community leaders, and researchers surveyed possible
locations for a new sanctuary in Aceh and identified a suitable site within a forest concession
in the Leuser ecosystem. FKL and Alliance partners have facilitated numerous meetings with
local communities, businesses, and government agencies to build support for the new
sanctuary. Part of the site is owned by a company, PT Mopoli Raya. The company has
agreed to the construction of the sanctuary within the plantation area and has sent an official
letter of support to the government. We expect to have the government approval and
agreement signed very soon. A draft detailed engineering design for the new sanctuary has
been prepared; the design is currently being reviewed by Alliance partners and will be revised
soon. We hope sanctuary construction will begin in about three months.
Way Kambas, South Sumatra
IRF and YABI completed the Way Kambas Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary expansion in October
2019.
This expansion includes:
● Semi-wild facility with space for at least 5 more rhinos
● Quarantine facilities for incoming rhinos from the wild
● Maternity and ambassador animal enclosures
● Education center and nature trail for visitors
● Research laboratory and equipment
● Advanced security system
● Additional staff, researcher, and guest facilities
● Infrastructure (wells, plumbing, solar grids, wiring, etc.) to support the facility
5SRS staff continue to carefully
monitor the facility’s seven
rhinos, and to breed them
when appropriate. Female
Ratu (mother to both calves
born at the facility) was
recently separated from her
now fully-grown daughter
Delilah and is once again
breeding with Andalas (father
of both calves). We are hoping
for another pregnancy soon.
Another of the sanctuary’s
females, Rosa, has lost
multiple pregnancies and New roads and fences (top) and quarantine facilities (bottom)
never carried a calf to term. have been built at the SRS.
Veterinarians have found a
benign tumor on her uterine
wall, which they think might be
preventing the fertilized eggs
from attaching properly. The
government of Indonesia
authorized surgery for Rosa,
which was to have been
performed by a team of
Indonesian and international
veterinarians in March, but it
has been postponed due to
the pandemic.
IRF contracted a team of
protected area security
experts from South Africa to conduct a security assessment of the SRS in January 2020.
With the sanctuary now holding a significant percentage of the world’s Sumatran rhino
population (and poised to hold more), we are particularly concerned about protecting the
sanctuary and the larger Way Kambas habitat. The assessment recommended the
development of a thermal wall technology system with an operations room and quick reaction
force, along with increased monitoring and patrolling within the park. We plan to solicit bids
from contractors to develop this system soon.
Throughout the COVID pandemic, teams of keepers and vets are still living at the facility to
care for the rhinos, and they switch every two weeks. During their two weeks off, staff remain
in their homes. They undergo a health assessment before they report back to work, and
every morning before going out to the rhinos. No visitors are allowed into the SRS under any
circumstances. Staff is ordered not to leave during their two-week rotation and the facility is
6being cleaned between teams. IRF has funded additional disinfectant stations for staff and
vehicles at the sanctuary.
YABI also continues to operate eleven Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) in Way Kambas
National Park and nine RPUs in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. (Two RPUs were
moved from Bukit Barisan Selatan to Way Kambas, because the Way Kambas rhino
population is larger and requires more protection.) All RPUs spend at least 15 days per
month on patrol in key rhino areas in each park. Two of the Way Kambas RPUs are also now
protecting the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary.
The Indonesian government has issued a stay-at-home order, which currently ran through the
end of May. Rhino Protection Units have been allowed to continue patrolling protected areas
throughout the pandemic. After completing each seven-to-ten day patrol in the jungle, RPU
members go directly to their homes, where they confine themselves until the next patrol.
They are also wearing masks and practicing social distancing on patrol.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Project income and expenses (in US dollars) through 31 December 2019 are summarized
below.
Income
GWC 1,000,000.00
National Geographic 1,000,000.00
WWF 768,788.00
IRF and partners 449,111.00
Individual contributions 14,032.00
Total Income 3,231,931.00
Expenses
Contracts 61,594.60
Grants to Implementing Partners 788,445.19
Grants Payable 179,880.00
Travel and Meetings 3,782.69
Fees 19.63
GWC Management 60,000.00
Total Expenses 1,093,722.11
An updated financial report will be provided along with the Alliance annual report in
September 2020. Already in 2020, three new strategic partners have joined the Alliance, and
the implementing partners are in the process of signing agreements that will provide
significant funding through the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, a debt-for-nature swap.
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