‘Puntung’s fractured bones may have added to suffering’

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife specialists have found fractured bones on Malaysia’s Sumatran rhino Puntung, which could have added to its suffering over the years.

Following Puntung’s death by euthanasia yesterday, Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora) chairman Dr Abdul Hamid Ahmad posted this on his Facebook account: “The bones tell more stories on suffering.

“We have finished cleaning up… We found an old fracture at the joint of the right front leg, which took her weight over many years.

“The squamous cell cancer growth was deeper, pressing (Puntung’s) the left nostril tight closed and now filling the area around the left eye… It was hard being her,” he posted.

Hamid, when contacted, said they could not determine the cause of Puntung’s old fracture, but stressed that the left leg was stumped.

“We believe that (the fracture) had contributed (to Puntung’s suffering), but she was an old lady.

“Her teeth and joints were very much worn out,” Hamid, who was present during the euthanasia procedure, said, adding that the process went smoothly.

“She (Puntung) loved the thick mattress, and we knew she needed the soft substrate for her weight.

“She was first tranquilised before euthanised intravenously. We then went on with the biopsies,” he said.

Sabah Wildlife Rescue Unit senior ranger Jibius Dausip described Puntung’s death as a sad episode in Sabah’s wildlife history, knowing that the Sumatran rhino species is on the brink of extinction.

“I feel the sadness because although I was not its keeper, I was part of the team that brought it out from the wild in 2011.

“That was my first encounter with Puntung.

“I haven’t seen Puntung for so long, except in the photos shared by our colleagues. There is no word left to describe how her death is a great loss to Sabah and the world,” he said.