Press — Borneo Rhino Alliance
By Avila Geraldine NST Online, November 24, 2019 KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia has done its level best to save the Sumatran rhinoceros since the 1980s, including mooting breeding programmes and pursuing conservation collaborations with key parties – all to no avail.
Iman in her paddock. Pic from BORA
Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora) executive director Dr John Payne told the New Straits Times that many opportunities to save the species had been rejected by “people in positions of authority.”
“Starting with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) experts in 1984, who argued that only non-breeding Sumatran rhinos should be brought into a global managed breeding programme,” he said today.
The IUCN is the world’s main authority on the species’ conservation. Payne observed that the same indifferent attitude prevails today.
“I am particularly disappointed that a letter of intent for collaboration signed by key parties in 2012 has been ignored by all parties, except the government of Malaysia and Sabah as well as Bora, despite our numerous repeated attempts to engage,” he said.
In August this year, Deputy Chief Minister cum state Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew led a Sabah delegation to Jakarta to discuss a Malaysia-Indonesia rhino conservation collaboration.
Payne was part of the delegation, along with Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga and WWF-Malaysia conservation director Dr Henry Chan.
The meeting with Indonesia is said to have borne fruit with the proposed collaboration expected to be inked in September. But the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is still pending.
Prior to the Jakarta visit, the Sabah government initiated continuous efforts to push for collaboration with the neighbouring country.
“I do not want to add to the toxic Indonesia versus Malaysia (debate), but I do want to say that Malaysia is now far ahead of Indonesia in many aspects of Sumatran rhino conservation. The long-awaited MoU is now needed more than ever,” stressed Payne.
“Malaysia and our colleagues in Germany, Italy and the IPB (Institut Pertanian Bogor) University have much to offer, not least in management of female Sumatran rhinos with reproductive pathology, safe harvesting of gametes from living rhinos, and cell culture, as well as capture and translocation of Sumatran rhinos from remote areas,” he added.
Payne noted that Malaysia’s three female captive Sumatran rhinos – Iman, Puntung, and Gelobog – and male captive rhino Tam all live on as cell cultures.
“Technology already exists to make eggs and sperm from these cultures. Technology to allow embryos of one species to be successfully implanted into the womb of another will be with us in the not too distant future.
“But then, the need for this could have been avoided if the decision makers all decided to collaborate from the 1980s,” he added.
Yesterday, Malaysia’s last Sumatran rhino, Iman, died at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Lahad Datu.
Iman was the last wild rhino spotted deep in the jungles of Sabah in 2014. She was captured at Danum Valley and was taken to the rhino sanctuary for care until she died.
Puntung was captured in 2011 and euthanised in June 2017.
Tam was captured in Aug 2010 and died in May 2019. His body was preserved and is on display at the Sabah state museum.
Gelogob was captured in 1994 and died in 2014. She was the longest-living female rhino in captivity.
Sumatran rhinos in captivity, as listed by Bernama:
1987 – Linbar, male, was captured in Lower Segama, but died of internal injuries that same year.
1987 – Tenegang, male, was captured, but died at the Sepilok Rhino Breeding Centre in 1992.
1988 – Lokan, male, was captured, but eventually died in a pit trap that same year.
1989 – Lun Parai, female, was captured and successfully mated, but no pregnancy occurred. She died in Sepilok in 2000.
1991 – Tekala, male, was captured, but died following a tetanus infection in Sepilok in 1997.
1992 – Sidom, male, was captured, but died in Sepilok in 1997 with no success in mating.
1993 – Bulud, male, was captured and retained at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Lahad Datu but escaped not long after. However, he was sighted once in 1995 not far from Tabin.
1993 – Tanjung, male, was captured and retained in Sepilok, but died after a tree branch fell on it in 2006.
1995 – Malbumi, male, was captured, but died in Sepilok in 1997.
Daily Express 27 Nov 2019 KOTA KINABALU: Former WWF Sabah Director Datuk John Payne (pic) said there were many missed opportunities to save the Sumatran rhino. Sabah’s last known Sumatran rhino, Iman, died last Saturday and questions were raised as to how the beast that managed to survive for millions of years in Sabah’s primeval forests was allowed to become extinct.“In 1980 IUCN experts discouraged Sabah from capture of rhino because it was considered too risky,” Payne said.
“They advised that only ‘doomed Sumatran rhinos, that is, the old, sick and isolated rhinos be captured for globally managed population breeding programme,” he said, adding that a proposal by the late Tom Foose of American Association of Zoos and Aquariums to initiate advanced reproductive technology for the species was also ignored. The idea was to send a Sabah rhino to America for captive breeding – everything thing was signed and agreed under the Berjaya Government but hue and cry followed a change of government (PBS) and the whole so-called Borneo Project was scuttled. With Sabah rebuffing the idea, Foose approached Indonesia and arrangements with Cincinnati Zoo under Dr Terry managed to sire two male rhino plus a third in Indonesia itself.
“In 2000, a warning by Nan Schaffer that over 70pc of female Sumatran rhinos have reproductive pathology was again ignored and later dubbed by the International Rhino Foundation as a Malaysian problem,” Payne said. Then in March 2012, a letter of intent for collaboration signed in the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry but was ignored until this day. “Between 2013 and 2019, repeated offer from Malaysia including sending Tam and eggs from Iman and Puntung were met with no response from Indonesia,” he said. He said in 2005, female Rosa, captured in Sumatra and never bred now has lelomyoma like Iman but there were no attempts to harvest her eggs or try IVF or artificial insemination. It is a pity that only hesitant and basic attempts at any aspect of advanced reproductive technology had occurred. “Again in November 2018, female Pahu was captured in East Kalimantan but until now there is no action to make use of her genome towards saving the species ,” Payne said.
Read the Daily Express article here
NST Online by Roy Goh, 15 October 2019
KOTA KINABALU: In vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment on an egg retrieved from Iman – the last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia – failed earlier this month.
Specialists attempting to save the species from extinction saw the fertilised cell degenerate within days after thawed-out sperm – harvested from Tam, the last male rhino – was injected into it.
Tam himself has since died.
It is learnt that the egg cell had failed to divide after fertilisation, and no embryo was formed.
However, a source said that while the failure is disheartening, “The team believes efforts should continue and that we should learn from the experience”.
The treatment was led by Professor Arief Boediono, a world-class IVF practitioner from Universiti Pertanian Bogor, Indonesia; as well as the Centre for Wildlife and Livestock Innovation, Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture, University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in Sandakan.
The process of retrieving the egg from Iman was conducted by a team of experts from the Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, led by Professor Thomas Hildebrandt, at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Lahad Datu, together with the Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora).
“We believe the quality of the sperm was low, and that to continue the IVF treatment effort, we need to try and get sperm from rhinos in captivity in Indonesia.
Despite the failed attempt of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, there is still hope for Iman and Sumatran rhinos.
“For now, Iman is relatively healthy, and though she has a tumour in her uterus, she is still producing oocytes, or eggs,” he said, but added that there is worry that the rhino may stop ovulating.
It was previously believed that the poor quality of Tam’s sperm was a factor in similar failures in previous in vitro attempts. Experts in Sabah, however, will continue to collaborate with Indonesia in the pioneering efforts.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga had previously expressed hope in the attempt to produce an embryo through the in vitro process for the continuation of the species.
Tam’s sperm was retrieved, frozen and kept for breeding purposes before he died in May. However, Iman can no longer get pregnant due to the uterine tumour that is plaguing her.
In August, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew led a delegation of state representatives and the department to Indonesia to discuss conservation efforts for the Sumatran rhinoceros.
by Basten Gokkon in Mongabay on 16 October 2019
JAKARTA — A recent effort by scientists to produce a Sumatran rhino embryo using egg and sperm samples taken from the last of the species in Malaysia has failed, according to officials.
Those involved in the attempt had previously cautioned that there was a low chance of success, given the poor quality of the genetic samples they had to work with.
The egg cell was extracted on Sept. 30 from Iman, the last known Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia. The scientists then injected the egg with sperm from Malaysia’s last male rhino, Tam, who died this past May. His semen had been collected in 2015 and 2016 and preserved in liquid nitrogen.
But the in vitro fertilization attempt on Oct. 1 failed to produce an embryo after 72 hours of incubation, Augustine Tuuga, the director of the Sabah state wildlife department, said as reported by the New Straits Time.
“What we have gathered from the experts is that possibly Tam’s sperm was not of good quality,” Tuuga said. Tam’s age would have been around 60 years in human terms when his sperm was harvested.
Given these circumstances, the rhino experts were not hopeful about the results. “Given that IVF in Sumatran rhino has been tried only about 6 times, we expect a high failure rate,” John Payne, the head of the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA), which was involved in the effort, told Mongabay in an email.
“Iman’s egg cells are fine,” Payne said. “Tam’s sperm quality is likely to be the main problem. Imagine taking sperm from a 70 year old man with kidney disease — what do you expect? That is Tam.”
Iman, the last female Sumatran rhino in Malaysia. Image courtesy of the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA).
The fact that the team had to rely on “poor quality” sperm from a single aged rhino has highlighted the lack of progress on an agreement between Malaysia and Indonesia that would have allowed Iman’s eggs to be fertilized with healthy sperm from one of Indonesia’s rhinos. At the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia hosts three young males, including one who has already successfully fathered two calves.
However, Indonesia insists that to send sperm samples from its rhinos in Way Kambas to Malaysia, both countries would need to sign a memorandum of understanding for an exchange of specimens of protected species, the transfer of which is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Tuuga said the IVF efforts would continue and be improved, while also urging Indonesia’s help in providing sperm from the Way Kambas rhinos.
Christina Liew, the Sabah state minister of tourism, culture and environment, said representatives of both countries have had regular meetings, most recently in August, to discuss the possibility of obtaining sperm from the rhinos in Way Kambas.
No more than 80 Sumatran rhinos, a critically endangered species, are believed to survive in the wild, often living in small populations too small and isolated to be reproductively viable. Seven rhinos are held at Way Kambas, one in a sanctuary in Indonesian Borneo, and one in Malaysia. Two calves were born at Way Kambas after being conceived naturally, while previous IVF attempts in Malaysia were unsuccessful.
Indonesia’s environment ministry said in August that the two countries had earlier this year agreed on a new partnership that would see eggs shipped from Malaysia for IVF attempts in Indonesia. To date, however, the paperwork to finalize the deal has still not been completed.
Iman, the last female Sumatran rhino in Malaysia. Image courtesy of the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA).
Read the full article on Mongabay
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Bernama) — A collaboration between Malaysia and Indonesia on the conservation of the Sumatran Rhinoceros is set to go forward as early as next month. This decision came as a result of a meeting held between Indonesian and Malaysian government officials in Jakarta on Friday, 9th August 2019. The Malaysian delegation, led by Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Christina Liew, also included senior officers from the ministry as well as Dr. John Payne from the Borneo Rhino Alliance and Dr. Henry Chan from WWF-Malaysia. Also present at the meeting were Widodo Ramono of the Indonesian Rhino Foundation and Anwar Purwoto from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). At the meeting, Malaysian and Indonesian delegates successfully outlined the technical details involved in the collaboration between the two countries for rhino conservation as well as set a timetable to move forward. Director-General of Natural Resource and Ecosystem Conservation Indonesia, Wiratno, reaffirmed his Ministry’s commitment to proceed as soon as possible, pending any administrative and legal details that needs to be resolved. “This visit has been a positive one for rhino conservation in Malaysia and Indonesia as we are ready to move forward and work together.” “While governments do their part to enable the collaboration to move forward, the effort to save our Sumatran Rhino from disappearing from Planet Earth calls for international support. I am happy that BORA and WWF-Malaysia being part of our delegation is evidence of that. I call on WWF to reach out to the global community to partner with us in reversing the complete loss of rhinos,” said Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Christina Liew. According to Borneo Rhino Alliance and SOS Rhino, the single main reason that captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos has not been successful is due to the fact that capture efforts have for the past forty years avoided capture of fertile rhinos and instead targeted the isolated and mainly infertile ones. Sumatran rhinos will only survive with a concerted effort to secure the last fertile rhinos from their unviable situations. However, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is also vital so that the infertile and sub fertile ones can contribute their genomes to the species survival. “It would be nice to imagine that this ancient species can be saved from extinction by protecting the last survivors in the wild and through natural breeding. The reality is that this is no longer going to happen. It is absolutely necessary to fast track assisted reproductive technology to ensure that every last Sumatran rhino counts and can contribute its genome to the survival of the species. I am delighted that all the concerned institutions now subscribe to this view and will move forward together. Better late than never,” said BORA Executive Director Dr. John Payne “WWF-Malaysia applauds the Sabah State Government’s strong commitment to rhino conservation. Its visit to Indonesia has helped to expedite the process of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to reverse the complete extinction of our Sumatran Rhinoceros. The organisation fully supports the MoU as it would pave the way for a better bilateral collaboration that would in turn gain stronger support from the international community for a One Borneo Programme.” “For its part, WWF-Malaysia will assist to garner support from the global audience with the help of its network offices around the world,” said WWF-Malaysia Conservation Director, Dr. Henry Chan.
About WWF-Malaysia WWF-Malaysia (World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia) was established in Malaysia in 1972. It currently runs more than 90 projects covering a diverse range of environmental conservation and protection work, from saving endangered species such as tigers and turtles, to protecting our highland forests, rivers and seas. The national conservation organisation also undertakes environmental education and advocacy work to achieve its conservation goals. Its mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the nation’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. For latest news and media resources, visit http://www.wwf.org.my/media_and_information/media_centre/
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Photo credit: Jonathan Beilby
BORA excutive director John Payne and Board Director Jessie Yong pay a courtesy call on Sabah’s newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, YB Christina Liew, accompanied by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Datu Rosmadi Datu Sula, 4 June 2018.
Prof Dr Abdul Hamid Ahmad, (Chairman) Dean, Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture, Universiti Malaysia Sabah 
Datuk Dr John Payne, BORA Executive Director 
Jessie Yong, Board Member 
Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma, Board Member
Tam will join other rhinos at the Cincinnati Zoo in efforts to promote breeding success