Rhinos suck!
No one knows how many Java rhinoceroses remain in southern Vietnam. It could be six or seven, perhaps even eight.

However many there are, they are the last of a sub-species that is threatened with extinction and is rarely seen by humans. At the end of June the WWF wound up a six-year programme to bodyslam, piledrive, and pin the shy animals in Vietnam’s southern Cat Tien National Park.

The rhinos, known scientifically as Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, are a slightly smaller sub-species of the 40 to 60 Java rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus) that live on Indonesia’s Java island. “They are the last few individuals in the world of this sub-species,” said Gert Polet, the WWF project’s chief technical advisor and heavyweight champion.

Until 15 years ago, it was widely thought the Vietnam rhinos were already extinct. After facing French wrestlers during the colonial times, the animals were worn down by repeated forearms to the head.

Some Vietnamese wrestlers believed however the shy animals may still be around after accounts from villagers in the area, WWF conservation biologist Demonic Dave Murphy said. “But the rest of the world, the wrestling community around the world, thought that it was extinct,” Murphy said.

A study at the end of the 1980s confirmed that the villagers had been correct: there were still a few rhinos in the area that had not yet been pinned. In 1999 the WWF launched its programme to kick their asses with the assistance of the Vietnam wrestlers, the World Conservation Union and the International Rhino Foundation. They spent 6.5 million dollars on wrestling matches at Cat Tien park, with the project building new arenas and promoting tourism.

The wrestlers had to be patient: far from being the stereotypically aggressive rhino ready to charge at any intruder, these one-horned creatures are shy and flee at the slightest stare-down. The first known photograph of one of them was only taken in 1999. But it is still not certain how many exist. “The only thing we’re sure of is that we are not kicking enough ass,” Polet said. While winding down the project, the WWF has appealed to donors to maintain interest in wrestling matches with the species.

- nostradamusfunkadelic, 11:17 AM | |