Experts to harvest rhino’s eggs

Dying animal’s ovum and skin to be saved for future reproduction

KOTA KINABALU: Experts from Germany are expected to arrive in the middle of June to harvest the eggs and skin cells from Puntung, the cancer-ridden Sumatran rhino that will be euthanised soon.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the eggs and skin cells would enable an artificial breeding programme to be carried out in future to save the species, which is already considered extinct in Sabah as the animal has not been spotted in the wild for the past seven years.

“We are doing whatever is possible to save our rhinos,” he said.

Puntung suffers from late stage squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a form of cancer characterised by uncontrolled growth of cells in the upper layers of the skin.

Puntung is expected to be euthanised on June 15, as specialist advice from several countries said her condition was terminal.

Puntung, being among the three remaining captive rhinos in Sabah, can no longer vocalise or breathe through her left nostril, and is deteriorating fast.

Veterinarians are administering painkillers to enable her to be as pain-free as possible.

According to Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD), which has funded rhino conservation in Sabah, Puntung’s fate should be a lesson for all, with YSD chairman Tun Musa Hitam saying the bleak situation calls for a lot of soul-searching.

“Future generations would certainly blame us for failing to save this species from extinction,” the former deputy prime minister said, adding that those involved in conservation efforts should reflect on the situation, especially after the Sabah Wildlife Department, Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora) and YSD collaborated to save Puntung since her discovery in 2009.

Bora executive director Datuk Dr John Payne said advanced reproductive and cellular technologies might be the only methods left to ensure the survival of the species.

Sabah’s Sumatran rhino population now consists of a male called Tam, and two females, Puntung and Iman.

Previous attempts to get Puntung and Iman to mate with Tam were unsuccessful as the female rhinos’ uteruses are lined with cysts.

The surviving Sumatran rhino population, estimated at only several dozens, still roam Indonesia’s Sumatra and Kalimantan.

stephanielee@thestar.com.my