Rhinoceros in the Greater Mekong

The Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) once ranged from Assam in India, through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, south along the Malaysian Peninsula and across the islands of Sumatra and Java.

Three different subspecies of Javan rhino are recognised; the most abundant subspecies (Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus) survives only in Ujung Kulon National Park, Java, with approximately 40 to 60 individuals remaining.

The subspecies once found in Bengal, Assam, and Myanmar (R. sondaicus inermis) is now extinct. The third subspecies (R. sondaicus annamiticus) was believed to be extinct from mainland Asia until 1988 when an individual was hunted from the Cat Tien area, leading to the discovery of a small population.

Major threats

From the mid-1990s, a number of organizations were involved in efforts to conserve the remaining Javan rhino population in Cat Tien National Park, but ineffective protection by the park was ultimately the cause of the extinction. This is a common problem in most protected areas in Vietnam that threatens the survival of many other species.

Illegal hunting to supply the wildlife trade has reduced many species in Vietnam to small and isolated populations. The tiger, Asian elephant and endemic species like the saola, Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and Siamese crocodile are on the verge of extinction in the country.

WWF recognises that habitat loss played a key role in sealing the fate of the rhino in Vietnam and warns that inadequate law enforcement and ineffective management of protected areas, encroachment and infrastructure development occurring within and close to Vietnam’s protected areas will only exert additional pressures on already fragile populations of species.