Hope for Sumatra rhino

A recent wildlife survey in Malaysia shows evidence that there is still hope for the endangered Sumatra rhino .

The survey in Borneo's central hub in May last year identified traces of at least 13 Sumatra cramps.

Sumatra rhino is the smallest rhino in the world standing on the brink of extinction. Only 300 Sumatra rhinos are thought to exist worldwide.

On Peninsular Malaysia, only very few rhinos of this type exist, because many have become victims of poachers or dead in poor feeding areas.

It is thought that Sumatra rhino has become extinct throughout the island of Borneo, but Malaysian scientists from Sabah state on Borneo said they had found a group of rhinos not yet touched by poachers.

The World Wide Fund said the 13 Sumatra rhinos discovered could produce a good herd of numbers if carefully protected for them to reproduce.

Previous estimates suggest that the number of Sumatra rhinos in Sabah state is about 30 to 70. WWF experts and state officials of Sabah now deploy rhino protection where they discovered them.

It is known that rhino horn has the same value as gold and is very popular for making traditional ethnic drugs in Asia.