sumatran rhino
Rewilding Sumatran Rhinos
Re:wild works to protect Sumatran rhinos and their dense forest habitat on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinos are now found only in small, isolated populations, which has made it hard for them to easily find each other to breed. There are not enough baby rhinos being born in the wild to keep the species alive, but conservationists are stepping in to help.
Under the direction of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Sumatran Rhino Emergency Action Plan, Re:wild has joined forces with global and local partners under the Sumatran Rhino Survival Alliance to support the national Sumatran Rhino breeding program, which will relocate select rhinos to join a conservation breeding program.
Experts with the Sumatran Rhino Survival Alliance are carefully working to help move rhinos to Sumatran Rhino Sanctuaries where they can live in natural forest and breed under human care. Eventually, future generations of rhinos will return to forests that are capable of supporting larger populations of rhinos. The project, called Sumatran Rhino Rescue, is an ambitious effort. We are:
Establishing two new Sumatran Rhino sanctuaries in Indonesia, while also expanding the existing facility in Way Kambas National Park.
Searching for and rescuing as many rhinos as possible, relocating them to breeding facilities.
Incorporating the rhinos into a single conservation breeding program with high-quality veterinary and husbandry care.
In addition to building a healthy population of rhinos at the sanctuaries, Re:wild helps efforts to protect rhinos in Sumatra’s forests from poaching. Through our partners International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI), we support Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) that patrol and monitor the rhino population in Way Kambas National Park in close partnership with the government’s park rangers. Re:Wild also works with Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL) in the Leuser Ecosystem to patrol and protect the rhinos here in close partnership with government rangers.
Top photo: A Sumatran Rhino, these Critically Endangered, forest-dwelling pachyderms only live on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. (Barney Long/Re:wild)
