US zoo sending endangered rhino to Indonesia to mate

The US-residing rhino will join his brother and three female Sumatran rhinos in a sanctuary in Malaysia, after conservationists call for the Indonesian government to do all it can to ensure the survival of the Sumatran rhinos.

The only Sumatran rhinoceros in the United States will be sent to Indonesia so it can have a chance to mate, an Ohio zoo famous for breeding the endangered species said on Tuesday.

“The opportunity for him to breed and contribute to his species survival exists only at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary”, said Dr. Terri Roth, longtime head of the zoo’s Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife. Experts said the development of the south-east Asia forest habitat and the poachers seeking the prized horns of the rhinos caused their extinction. The zoo is renowned for its Sumatran rhino breeding program that has produced the only three of the species born in captivity.

Harapan will join Andalas, who has been in Indonesia since 2007. Andalas will turn 14 next month.

“We are very sad about the program coming to an end here in Cincinnati”, Roth said. It’s a huge loss for us.

Bambang Dahono Adji, director of biodiversity conservation at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said preparations are underway at a rhino sanctuary at Way Kambas National Park in southern Sumatra, and hopefully Harapan will arrive by early October at the latest. The eight-year-old Harapan is mature enough to mate, which will soon be flown to south-east Asia, the zoo officials said at a press conference.

Veteran zoo rhino keeper Paul Reinhart will accompany Harapan.

The only Sumatran rhino in the U.S. will go to Indonesia to try to breed.

There are only 100 Sumatran Rhinos left in the world with nine of those are being cared for in captivity.