Tam at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary, 2016 BORA Filepic

By JASON BITTEL published May 27, 2019 on National Geographic

Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhinoceros, Tam, has died—a serious blow for the critically endangered species, which is already extinct in the country.

Discovered poking around an oil palm plantation in 2008, Tam was captured and transferred to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in the state of Sabah. Efforts to breed him with two female rhinos—Puntung, captured in 2011, and Iman, captured in 2014—proved unsuccessful.

With Puntung’s euthanization in 2017 due to cancer, Iman is now the nation’s sole remaining member of its species in Malaysia. Due to decades of habitat loss and poaching, fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos are thought to exist in the wild, most on the nearby island of Sumatra. The rest are scattered across Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo.

Read the full article on National Geographic.com

South China Morning Post, 27 May 2019

The last male Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia has died of old age, dashing efforts to save the critically endangered species in the country.

Tam the rhino, who was in his 30s, lived at a wildlife reserve in Sabah state on Borneo island since his capture in 2008, according to Christina Liew, the state minister for tourism, culture and the environment.

“Regrettably, Tam died at mid-day, around noon on Monday. Invariably, everything that could possibly have been done, was done, and executed with great love and dedication,” Liew said in a statement on Monday.

“His last weeks involved the most intense palliative care humanly possible, rendered by the Borneo Rhino Alliance team under veterinary surgeon Dr Zainal Zahari Zainuddin at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Lahad Datu,” said the minister.

Tam was believed to have died of old age, but the wildlife reserve would release more information after completing an autopsy report, Liew said.

Despite approaching middle age, Tam was not grumpy and was “quite the gentleman”, according to the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA). He had a calm and steady manner, although he was “a bit cheeky at times”, BORA said.

Sumatran rhinos are the smallest of the living rhinoceroses and the only Asian rhino with two horns. They are more closely related to the extinct woolly rhinos than any of the other rhino species alive today, according to the WWF. The Sumatran rhino was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015.

• Iman, Malaysia’s last female Sumatran rhino. Photo: Borneo Rhino Alliance

Iman, a female captured in 2014, is now the only surviving member of the subspecies left in the country.

She suffered a ruptured tumour in her uterus in December 2017, but was said to have been showed some signs of recovery by the end of the month, although she remains in poor health.

Another female rhino, jackfruit-loving Puntung, was euthanised in 2017 after suffering from incurable squamous cell cancer.

On Monday, WWF Malaysia called the loss of Tam a “wake-up call” and urged more action to save the endangered animals.

“Our hearts are filled with sadness as we mourn the loss of a species. With Tam gone, we now only have Iman left, our last female rhino. Let the loss of Tam be the wakeup call,” the group said in a tweet. “Our #wildlife needs protection.”

Wildlife experts estimate that only about 30 to 80 Sumatran rhinos remain in the world, mostly on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on the Indonesian side of Borneo.

Their isolation, caused by habitat loss and poaching, means they rarely breed and may go extinct in a matter of decades, according to conservation group International Rhino Foundation.

Since 2011, Malaysia has tried to breed the species in captivity through in vitro fertilisation, but without success.

Liew said Tam’s genetic material has been preserved for future attempts to reproduce Sumatran rhinos.

“We hope that with emerging technologies at cell and molecular level, he may yet contribute his genes to the survival of the species,” she said.

Sabah conservationists feel that urgent steps should be initiated to prevent other wildlife species from meeting the Sumatran rhino’s fate.

They hoped for more attention to be given to the conservation of pangolins, banteng, the Bornean elephant, clouded leopard and sun bear whose numbers have dwindled over the years due to poaching and wildlife conflict.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/05/26/experts-weve-lost-battle-on-rhino-conservation/#pqm4XflTgcDxJfJL.99

By Avila Geraldine, NST Online May 27, 2019

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia’s last remaining male Sumatran rhinoceros, affectionately called Tam, has died today.

Tam died at about noon at Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Lahad Datu.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew said the exact cause of death would be known after the autopsy.

“Invariably, everything that could have possibly been done, was done, and executed with great love and dedication.

“(Tam’s) last weeks involved the most intense palliative care as humanly possible, rendered by the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA) team under veterinarian Dr Zainal Zahari Zainuddin at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary,” she said in a statement, here.

Liew said Tam’s death was related to old age and involved multiple organ failures.

It was reported that Tam’s appetite and alertness had declined significantly since the end of last month.

Urine analysis tests indicated that Tam was suffering from organ damage and poor kidney function.

It spent most of its time lying down, having received round-the-clock attention and medication from keepers as well as veterinarians.

In Aug 2010, a wildlife team captured the male rhinoceros at the Kretam oil palm plantation in Tawau.

At the time of its capture, the rhinocerous was thought to be in its mid-20s. Tam was taken to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve where it had lived ever since.

Liew said Tam’s living genome was now preserved in cell culture.

“We hope that with emerging technologies at cell and molecular levels, he may be able to contribute his genes to ensure the survival of the species,” she added.

With Tam’s death, Malaysia is now left with one female Sumatran rhinoceros, Iman. She was captured in 2014.

In 2017, another female rhinoceros Puntung was euthanised because she was suffering from a painful and incurable cancer.

Iman appears to be the last Sumatran rhinoceros that was found in the wild. Since her rescue, no other Sumatran rhinoceros has been detected in Sabah, indicating that the species may have become extinct.

Gelegub 

TABIN (Lahad Datu): The only female Sumatran Rhinoceros kept in captivity at the Lokawi Wildlife Park was safely translocated to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, near here yesterday.

Gelegub, the 28-year-old rhino, is now part of the Borneo Rhino Conservation Programme also known as the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary Programme in Tabin. The aim of the programme is to ward off the extinction of the species which now numbers at less than 50 in the wild.

The rhino underwent a 12-hour journey from the Lokawi Wildlife Park to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, leaving the park at 6.30pm on Tuesday and arriving at about 6am yesterday. She was accompanied by a convoy headed by the Park’s Veterinarian, Dr Roza Sipangkui, staff of the Sabah Wildlife Department’s (SWD) Wildlife Rescue Unit and its veterinarians. They were also assisted by police.

Gelegub has been placed at the Lokawi Wildlife Park for the last three years prior to the move.

Sabah Wildlife Department Director, Dr Laurentius Ambu said that the decision to move Gelegub was made after consulting with rhino experts in the country as well as from abroad.

“The threat of extinction on the rhino is imminent, with less than 50 left in the wild presently and mainly in fragmented forest,” he said.

He said that SWD are working together with the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA), World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), Liebniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research and Liepzig Zoo with the effort to rescue the rhinos at these fragmented forest and bring them to the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary (BRS) where they can meet and mate naturally.

The BRS programme is jointly funded by the State Government and Yayasan Sime Darby.

Laurentius also commented that Gelegub is already too old for natural mating. However, extensive examination has been carried out on her by local and foreign experts and they believe that she would still be able to produce viable eggs which could then be fertilized with the semen collected by the male rhino kept captive at Tabin.

The male rhino presently residing at the facility is known as Kertam. He added that for the fertilization works to take place, both female and male rhinos must be kept close to each other.

Meanwhile, BRS programme coordinator for the Sabah Wildlife Department, Dr Sen Nathan explained that the electroejaculation, ovarian stimulation, oocyte recovery and invitro fertilization as well as production of embryos would be the first of its kind carried out on Sumatran Rhinoceros.
“We will be working very closely with a team of rhino experts from Liebniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research. We hope to carry out this ground-breaking procedure by late November,” he said. He added that risks are involved when carrying out the procedures.

“As with any medical procedures there are always risks. But we will take all important and critical steps to manage these risks. The age factor of Gelegub is our greatest concern. She is an old girl.”

However, with the team of experts that will be assemblying in Tabin for the procedure, Dr Sen said that he is confident the rhinos will be given the best standard of care possible.