CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio zoo that has the last Sumatran rhino in the United States will send the endangered species to Southeast Asia on a mission to mate.
Species conservation experts at the Cincinnati Zoo say 8-year-old Harapan (HAYR’-uh-pan) will soon be on his way to Indonesia, where nearly all of the estimated 100 remaining Sumatran rhinos live.
The head of the zoo’s Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife tells The Associated Press it’s a “huge loss” for the zoo but the right thing to do so Harapan hopefully can contribute to the species’ survival.
Numbers of Sumatran rhinos have fallen by an estimated 90 percent since the mid-1980s as habitat development and poachers took their toll.
Cincinnati’s zoo has been a pioneer in breeding the species, producing the first three born in captivity in modern times.
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