Courtesy of UMass News and Media
Saving the Last Groups of Wild Sumatran Rhinoceros
UMass Amherst, Wildlife Conservation Society use enhanced population survey techniques
September 16, 2015
Contact: Janet Lathrop 413/545-0444
AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Indonesia Program carried out an island-wide survey of the last wild population of Sumatran rhinoceros, and now recommend that wildlife conservation managers consolidate the small population, provide strong protection for the animals, determine the percent of breeding females remaining and “recognize the cost of doing nothing.”
Lead author Wulan Pusparini, a UMass Amherst environmental conservation doctoral student who also works for the WCS, says the new study provides vital data to support a final attempt to prevent the Sumatran rhino’s extinction. She notes, “Sumatran rhinos can still be saved in the wild, but we must secure these protection zones, which would require significant investments in additional law enforcement personnel.”
The study for the first time identifies priority forest protection zones...