Reasons for failure to breed Sumatran rhinos in zoos: 1. Failure to provide the exact nutritional balance found in the native habitat. 2. Small size of captive enclosures. 3. Exposure to intense sunlight, which may stress these deep-forest animals.
Surrounded by a dead-flat landscape, it is the closest reserve to Jakarta. It has also been heavily logged. Most of the jungle is now regrown ?secondary' forest. Only the swampy heartlands have been unaffected by logging.
Bulldozers are clearing strips of the reserve and helping dig fence posts for a 1 million breeding and ecotourism reserve for Sumatran rhinos which are due to be repatriated from zoos around the world. The southern Sumatran sanctuary should become the primary captive-breeding centre for the rhino. The aim is for the sanctuary to become self-sufficient, funding itself through elephant-back safaris into a 'conservation and tourist concession' covering 100 km? of the 1300 km? reserve. However, the launch of tourist safaris has been delayed and it is believed that the Indonesian backer of the scheme has threatened to pull out. The breeding centre is designed like a waggon-wheel, with slices of the wheel for every rhino. Each animal will be rotated within two enclosures of 10 ha each, with a central area for interchange. The enclosures will be divided by high-voltage electric wire set in front of steel-cable fencing. Males and females will be segregated and allowed into the central salt-lick area only by sequence or when females are in oestrous. Start up costs for the first three years will amount to 1.1 million. This will pay for construction works, staff costs and anti-poacher patrols. The sanctuary is aiming to run elephant-back rhino safaris. Tourist will stay in the Way Kanan Camp. The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary is a collaborative project mounted by the International Rhino Foundation, the Indonesian Government and Taman Safari Indonesia.
