1954. No more than 2-3 in the sanctuary.
In 1948 rhino were reported seen occasionally. The area has been under occupation of Karen insurgents and no report has been received since.
In the Annual report on Game Preservation in Burma for year ending 31 March 1940, it is stated that the Divisional Forest Officer, Tharrawaddy Division (U Aung Din), found fresh rhino tracks on Sanwingan Hill. A Karen forester informed me that in 1952 there are two rhino surviving in the Zamayi Forest Reserve, Pegu Forest Division, in the upper reaches of Pegu River. U Aung Din said that he found tracks of two rhino at the source of the Thounze chaung on the Pegu Yoma. On his revisit of same area in 1945, he was informed that one of the two rhino had been shot by Karens. Between 1922 and 1926 the writer made several trips up Shwelaung chaung, Kawliya chaung and Baingda chaung. He met a Karen hunter (Naun To) who had shot 4 rhino and was informed of a pocket on the Pegu Yoma where there were at least 4-6 rhino. The area is somewhere west of Penwegon on the Rangoon Mandalay line. There may still be specimens surviving in this area.
Rhinoceros sondaicus. In 1939-40 the Game Warden (F.J. Mustell) received information that a Rhinoceros with calf was seen by Karen villagers in their taungyas at the foot of the Kyaiktyo Hill. The villagers' descriptions closely corresponds with the Javan Rhino. These two animals were reported to be frequenting the environs of Kyaiktiyo pogoda up to the year ending 30 Sep 1949. There area has since been under occupation by Karen insurgents and no further information is available.
The Conservator of Forests, Northern Circle, in 1950-1951 estimated that there were about 5 rhinos in Nan-Ka-Za and Nan-Yoke-Chuangs unclaimed forests, Uyu drainage, Katha West Forest Division. The writer visited Lonkhin and Hpakan, in the Jade Mines in Aug 1951. Both villages are on the bank of the Uyu River. At Hpakan the headman of Lassai Tracts said that a rhino was shot in the dense jungle near Kungsai in Nov 1949, and that a few rhinos had been shot in the past and that 3-4 specimens still exist in the area. The Lasai Chins often visit Hpakan to sell rhino horn and blood to the Chinese who work in the jade mines. In Dec 1949, when the Deputy Commissioner, Myitkyina, was camping at Haungpa on the Chindwin River, the Lasai Duwa presented him with a rhino horn, possibly from the rhino shot in Nov 1949.
Annual report on Forest Administration for year ending 31 Sep 1951, the Conservator of Forests, Maritime Circle, merely mentions that rhino are reported to exist in the unclassed forests, Victoria Point Range. The writer has not been able to obtain information from the area. It is doubtful if any rhino now exist in the Tavoy-Mergui Forest Division. Some of the wolfram mines are in the area. There has also been extensive poaching by Thais. The areas in Tavoy-Mergui Forest Division are presently under occupation by underground communists and Karen insurgents. In the Yechaung Reserves of Ataran Division there may still be an isolated specimen or two if they have not yet been poached by the Thais. In Dec 1941 the writer was at the source of the Yechaung and informed of a large rhino in he Tenasserim Yoma.
The locations mentioned by Peacock are not clear. When the writer visited Putao in Dec 1951, he was informed of a Dicerorhinus sumatrensis shot by a Lishu hunter on Mansi Likun Hills in 1943. The Manse Sawbwa received the posterior horn and some dried blood. Mr Sanhta Seng estimated 4-6 specimens of rhino still surviving in the Nam Lang valley.
Correction of Ansell: Mt Mulayit is in Ataran Forest Division, Amherst Division.
Thiri Pyanchi U Son Nein, M.p. for Chin Hills, wrote in Sep 1953 that he saw fresh tracks of a rhino on Lontin Hill between Matupi and Kanpetlet, and that a villager from Paletwa saw a rhino in Bigon forests between Matupi and Paletwa in May 1953. If not identical, this area probably adjoins the areas where during the Arakan campaign, the special patrols saw a rhino about 15 miles NE of Paletwa in Jan 1944 and a second rhino about 25 miles east of Paletwa in April 1944. The writer crossed over the Arakan Yomas from Padaung to Taungup and back in Feb 1946 when he was informed where the rhino still existed.
The cases of rhino poaching should dispel all doubts of people who are inclined to believe in the legend that the mountain spirits of Shwe U daung do not like poaching.
The Divisional forest Officer, Mong Mit Division, visited the sanctuary in April 1948. He did not actually see one, but came across fresh tracks of rhino and also a month-old spoor of a cow rhino with a calf. The Range Officer saw a rhino in a mud wallow in May 1948. The DFO came to the conclusion that `despite poaching there are 4-5 thinos in the Mong Mit sector of the sanctuary.' The Range Officer (Thabeitkyin) reported in 1950-1951 one male, one cow and a calf rhino in Katha East (Burma) sector. In 1952 Tun Yin learned that three of these rare animals had been shot in the Sanctuary, one under a special license issued to the Mahadevi of Mong Mit for medicinal purposes, and two illicitly by Shan hunters. If any Dicerorhinus sumatrensis still exist, there cannot be more than 2-3 animals.
Burma. The Kachins believe that the posterior horn alone is efficacious, the anterior horn is only a protection to the posterior one and no value to Kachins.
