KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Disease has wiped out the entire population of rare Sumatran rhinoceroses at a captive breeding program in Malaysia, one of the species' few remaining havens.
"The last of seven Sumatran rhinos at the Sungai Dusun Rhino Conservation Center in central Malaysia died Monday afternoon, a conservationist said, bringing to an end a 16-year-old program that is one of just a handful in the world trying to save the species from extinction.
The Sumatran is the smallest of the world's five types of rhinos and among the rarest of large mammals. Less than 300 are believed to be living in the wild, mostly in Malaysia and Indonesia, and are being threatened by poachers and loss of habitat, experts say.
Mohamad Khan Mohmin Khan, chairman of the Malaysian Rhino Foundation which assists the country's Wildlife and National Parks Department in running the center, said scientists are still trying to identify the exact cause of death, though a pneumonia-like bacterial infection is suspected."
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