Rare Rhino Dies Days After Her Rediscovery
When a female Sumatran rhino was captured in a pit trap in March in the Indonesian part of Borneo, the conservation community cheered. The endangered species had not been physically encountered in the area for 40 years. But now that hopeful story has taken a sad turn, as the rhino—known as Najaq—has died.
"Our hearts are saddened by this devastating news from Kalimantan," the International Rhino Foundation wrote on its Facebook page Tuesday.
Najaq succumbed to a leg infection after her health deteriorated over the past few days, Indonesia's environment minister said. Further investigations are pending.
According to Arnold Sitompul, conservation director of WWF-Indonesia, early evidence suggest the infection was first caused by a snare from an earlier poaching attempt, before the animal was caught by conservationists.
"The sad death of this rhino reminds us of the tremendous challenges associated with protecting the Sumatran rhino population in the Indonesian part of Borneo," says Sitompul.
Najaq was thought to be four or five years old. She was captured in a pit trap in Kutai Barat in East Kalimantan on March 12. Sumatran rhinos had been thought extinct from Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, but some camera trap evidence gathered in 2013 had suggested the return of at least a few individuals in the past few years.
As a result of that evidence, conservationists had set a trap with the goal of moving any rhinos from the area to a more secure sanctuary, about 93 miles (150 kilometers) away. The region was too close to mining operations and plantations to be considered safe habitat.
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