![\"Male](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/javan-rhino-and-calf.jpg\")
Male Javan rhino calf named Luther with his mother in 2020. Image courtesy of Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Forestry.<\/p>\n
In 2023, rangers in the park discovered missing camera traps, according to the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cFootage from remaining cameras later showed armed individuals in the park,
apparently tracking rhinos,\u201d reads the report.<\/p>\n
Eventually, police arrested 13 poachers and traders<\/a> from a nearby village involved in the slaughter of the rhinos for their horns. The poaching crew focused on males due to their larger horns, skewing the sexual ratio and setting back conservation efforts for years.<\/p>\n The incidents raised questions about security in the park. How could these poachers have acted in the park for so long and killed so many rhinos given the ranger presence? Fascione says many security changes have been made.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of new measures in place that didn\u2019t exist a couple of years ago when the poaching was happening. \u2026The world\u2019s attention is on the species. I do feel confident that we\u2019re in a better place than when the poaching occurred,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Still, Fascione adds that there is no foolproof regimen against poachers, who are \u201ccreative and bold,\u201d given the payout for rhino horn. Rhino horn is used in Chinese traditional medicine and, increasingly, as a status symbol in parts of Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n But the news isn\u2019t all bleak for Javan rhinos.<\/p>\n \u201cThe good news is there have been six Javan rhino calves born in just the past two years. \u2026 They\u2019re doing what they need to do,\u201d Fascione says. \u201cWe need to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n The government is also discussing setting up a captive breeding program for Javan rhinos \u2014 similar to what they\u2019ve done for Sumatran rhinos \u2014 to provide an insurance program for the species.<\/p>\n There has also been talk for decades of setting up a second wild population for Javan rhinos, with no action taken. Given the population plunge, that idea is not a priority right now, Fascione says.<\/p>\n Disappointingly, Sumatran rhino estimates remain stable after three years: Just 34-47 animals are believed to remain in the wild. Of all the rhino species, the Sumatran rhino numbers are the least certain, given the same number of animals, the rugged and remote terrain and their famous elusiveness.<\/p>\n \u201c[The numbers are] an estimate, and that\u2019s all we can do,\u201d Fascione says.<\/p>\n Sumatran rhinos, which are the smallest rhinos, are the oldest evolutionarily. They represent their own genus and are the hairiest and nosiest of all the rhinos. They are also the most closely related to the extinct woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis), which vanished around 14,000 years ago, likely due to human hunting and climate change.<\/p>\n On the plus side, a highly successful captive breeding program for Sumatran rhinos now stands at 11 animals and remains an insurance policy against total extinction.<\/p>\n Of the wild animals, the report estimates that 2-3 animals may survive in Borneo, representing a different subspecies: D. s. harrissoni. Currently, only one is known for certain: a female named Pari. For years, officials have been trying to capture Pari to add her to the breeding program, as she\u2019d bring vital new genetics into the program.<\/p>\n \u201cPari has been pretty darn elusive,\u201d Fascione says.<\/p>\n The vast majority of wild, surviving rhinos are thought to dwell in northern Sumatra. They were believed to have been wiped out of southern Sumatra in the past decade. However, recent developments have changed this. Dogs with the nonprofit Working Dogs for Conservation have found what is believed to be rhino scat in southern Sumatra \u2014 the first direct sign of rhinos there in a long time.<\/p>\n \u201cOur dogs thrive on tough scent challenges like this,\u201d says Crystal Sharlow-Schaefer, director of development of Working Dogs for Conservation.<\/p>\n The rhino scat, which is more than one sample, has passed one test confirming it\u2019s from the elusive Sumatran rhino. It needs to pass two more before conservationists are certain it\u2019s rhino.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is brand new. Literally, the dogs are in the jungle right now,\u201d Fascione says. If true, it might prove an additional lifeline for the species. Fascione says she believes any rhino in southern Sumatra should be caught and brought into the captive breeding program, which desperately needs new members, as all the males are directly related.<\/p>\n Fascione says there are a number of ways to help Asia\u2019s last rhinos: Get involved in World Rhino Day (Sept. 22), visit zoos with rhinos (as zoos are very active in rhino conservation) and finally consider donating to expanding the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, which houses the captive rhinos. Currently, the sanctuary is at full capacity.<\/p>\n The new report, which drops every three years, was compiled by the IUCN Species Survival Commission\u2019s African Rhino Specialist Group, Asian Rhino Specialist Group and TRAFFIC.<\/p>\n Banner image: A baby Sumatran rhino in June 2012. Image by International Rhino Foundation via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fk7E_IMG_20231005_174838.jpg\")
A female calf of the Javan rhinoceros with her mother. Image courtesy of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
\nOn the edge: Sumatran rhinos<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sumatran-rhinos.jpg\")
A female Sumatran rhino with its calf. Image by Rhett A. Butler \/ Mongabay.<\/p>\n