Opposition to Rhino Relocation: Ujung Kulon, Indonesia

The World Wildlife Fund has always represented the benefits of animals around the world. But they might have taken on a bit more than they can handle with the proposed moving of Javan Rhinos from a National Park.

People living near Ujung Kulon National Park say the World Wide Fund for Nature's plan to relocate the 50 Javan rhinoceroses residing in the park could be disastrous. The Javan rhinoceros which is one of the most endangered large mammals on Earth is also known as the Asian Lesser One,Horned Rhinoceros.

The WWF plans to move the rhinoceroses from the park in Banten to Gunung Halimun in Sukabumi both of which are in West Java.
Apparently the idea of moving Rhinos is an old issue which dates back to the 1980s. There are a number of places the WWF could move them to and naturally they are weighing up the pros and cons of moving them but are insistent that Gunung Halimun is a safe area.

Has the WWF done a study of conditions at Gunung Halimun. Can the rhinos adapt to their new habitat?. Will they survive?. It is not easy and the WWF should not force the move because rhinos are very sensitive creatures. The animal's welfare and future upon this earth is depending on the decision.

Together with non-profit group Mitra Rhino and researchers from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture the WWF has been studying a number of options for increasing the population of one-horned rhinos.

There are also bulls living in Ujung Kulon which the rhinos have to compete with for food. The WWF have considered relocating the bulls or putting in more of the plants that rhinos eat. But changes to the management of a park can take a long time. Relocating the rhinos would take five to 15 years if things went well.

The rhinos should be spread out across different locations because otherwise if disaster struck the majority of the population could be wiped out. There are fewer than 60 Javan rhinos in the world surviving in only two known locations. The other location is in Vietnam.