Javan Rhinoceros Now Extinct in Vietnam

According to an announcement made by the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are currently no more Javan rhinoceroses living in Vietnam. The last individual known to conservationists died in April 2010.

During a study of dung belonging to Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, all 22 samples found in the wild were identified as belonging to the same individual, the one that died last year. A WWF report indicates poaching as the main cause of death.

The animal was found with a bullet wound in its leg, and with its horn sawed off. Back in 2004, researchers had found a pair of Javan rhinos in Vietnam, which brought hope that the population here might be restored. However, that was not the case in the end.

“The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone. It is painful that despite significant investment in the Vietnamese rhino population conservation efforts failed to save this unique animal. Vietnam has lost part of its natural heritage,” WWF-Vietnam Country Director Tran Thi Minh Hien says.