Growing concern over last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia
The state Wildlife Department is worried about the health of Tam, Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino.
Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew in a statement on Sunday said Tam’s health has been declining since April.
“Tests are ongoing, but it seems that one or more of his internal organs are not functioning well.
“Tam’s appetite and alertness have declined abruptly since late April this year. He is receiving round-theclock attention and medication,” she said.
One of the landmarks in the saga of the world’s most endangered terrestrial mammal species, the Sumatran rhino, was the capture of a male rhino at Kretam in Sabah in August 2008.
This male was named Tam. He had moved out of the forest into an oil palm plantation.
A week of exposure to staff of Sabah Wildlife Department, SOS Rhino and WWF-Malaysia, who fed and befriended him in the plantation, allowed Tam to be coaxed into a crate. He was brought to facilities in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, where he has lived ever since.
At the time of his capture, Tam was thought to be in his mid-twenties, meaning that he is now well into old age for a Sumatran rhino.
Now, serious concerns are growing over his health.
Tam has always been a favourite of the people who work with him or visit him, due to his calm and steady manner.
Hopes to find a mate for him were dashed when Puntung, captured in 2011, was found to have multiple cysts throughout her uterus, and when Iman, captured in 2014, was found to have massive uterine fibroids.
These illnesses are a reflection of too few rhinos and insufficient breeding success during the last decades of the twentieth century. Puntung was euthanized in 2017 because of painful and incurable cancer.
Since 2011, all efforts in Malaysia to save the species from extinction have been focused on the application of advanced reproductive technology including in vitro fertilization attempts and collaboration with Indonesia. To date, neither have met with success.