German campaign to protect Sabah's pigmy rhino from extinction

BERLIN: Sabah's pigmy rhinoceros is becoming something of a mascot for Malaysia's tropical forest in Germany, given the intense interest in saving the highly endangered species from extinction and with it the tropical forest.

Various animal lovers' associations as well conservation societies in Germany have gone on the offensive to highlight the fact that there are only 50 animals left of the Sabah rhinoceros (dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrisoni) which is a subspecies of the Sumatran rhinoceros.

Scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Zoological and Wild Animal Research have started, together with the Leipzig Zoo, the Malaysian government, the Sabah Wildlife Department and the Borneo Rhino Alliance, on an extensive programme for the protection and further reproduction of the animal.

"It is high time that we rescued this species. The Sabah rhino is a cultural heritage of our region. We now need professional expertise," Datuk Masidi Manjun, the Sabah Minister for Tourism, Culture and Environment, was quoted as saying when he received a group of researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoological and Wildlife Research and Leipzig Zoo last week.

The Sabah rhinoceros is described as an indicator species for an intact ecosystem in the lowland tropical forest.

If this umbrella species dies out, other countless species living under the ecological protection umbrella of the Sabah rhinoceros will also disappear.

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