KOTA KINABALU: Puntung, the Sumatran rhinoceros, was euthanized early this morning 4 June 2017 at Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
The Rhino was suffering from squamous cell cancer which spread rapidly over the past few weeks.
Puntung’s keepers Wilson Kuntil, Hassan Sani and Samad Gubin had been sleeping for the past week with Puntung in her forest paddock, to ensure that she was under close observation twenty-four hours per day.
They were very attuned to subtle changes in her behaviour and reported periodic bleeding from the nostrils.
“The carcinoma had been growing rapidly in size and there were clear signs that Puntung was experiencing significant breathing difficulties,” Sabah Wildlife Department Director Augustine Tuuga said.
“In consultation with our rhino reproduction advisers at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, and others, the decision was taken to end her growing discomfort, and bring forward the planned date of the procedure.Previously, we were targeting 15 June.”
“In pursuit of the aim to allow Puntung to contribute to the survival of her species, her ovaries were rushed to the Agro-Biotechnology Institute, Serdang,” added Augustine.
Indonesian reproductive specialist Professor Arief Boediono from Jakarta is also ready to recover any egg cells that might be present.
“If any oocytes can be retrieved and matured, frozen sperm from the male rhino Tam will be thawed for intracytoplasmic sperm injection by Professor Arief. We will know the outcome within a few days,” added Augustine.
In addition, tissue samples from Puntung are being provided to Malaysian institutions so that her genome can be preserved through cell cultures.
The efforts of keepers who have attended to Puntung in recent months mainly Rasaman Jaya, Marikus Suyat, Justine Sagunting, Joseph Stimon, Ronald Jummy, Davidson Kuntil and Alvin Erut, with Dr Zainal Zahari Zainuddin in charge are commended.
-CE/BNN
