Malaysia — The last of the Sumatran rhinoceros, named Iman, died of natural causes last Saturday due to shock in her system, according to the Wildlife Department in eastern Sabah state on Borneo island. Iman had uterine tumors ever since her capture in March 2014. Her death has made the Sumatran rhino extinct in Malaysia.
Department director Augustine Tuuga said in a statement that Iman, who reportedly was 25 years old, was suffering significant pain from growing pressure of the tumour to her bladder but that her death came sooner than expected.
It came six months after the death of the country’s only male rhino in Sabah. Another female rhino also died in captivity in 2017 in the state. Efforts to breed them have been futile but Sabah authorities have harvested their cells for possible reproduction.
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The WWF conservation group estimates that there are only about 80 left, mostly living in the wild in Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia.
This is sad news indeed.
(Image Credit: Reuters/ SCMP)