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| Location: |
Asia - South East Asia - Thailand |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Asian Rhino Species |
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The Sumatran rhino is in desperate straits, with poaching a major threat - not surprisingly when a dead animal can be sold for the equivalent of up to twenty years' wages for a farmer. Their decline is largely due to human factors beginning at least 50,000 years ago (Martin and Wright).
The rhinos along the Tenasserim and the Malay border do not represent any addition to the known world rhinoceros population because most of these animals were probably included in earlier censuses. But they are a reminder that rhinoceroses are wide-ranging animals, and that their conservation on the mainland should be considered an international problem, not an internal one. Further, the rhinos living in these areas are part of a political problem, the increasing domination of forested areas by insurgents of various political persuasions, who live off the land, killing large maminals for meat.
Conserving rhinos in Thailand raises a serious economic problem. The remains of a rhino are worth over $2000 (10 to 20 years' earnings for a Thai farmer), so it is extremely difficult to prevent a villager shooting one if he has a chance.
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Rhinos in Thailand
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