Story highlights
Harapan is the last Sumatran rhino in the U.S.
He's moving to Indonesia in hopes he will breed
There are only about 100 living Sumatran rhinos in the world
What to do when you want to settle down and raise a family but you’re the last remaining member of your species in the country?
No, it’s not the latest sci-fi movie coming out this fall. It’s the real-life story of Harapan, the last Sumatran rhino in the United States.
The Cincinnati Zoo isn’t going to let him pine away. Instead, the 8-year-old male Sumatran rhino will move to Indonesia sometime this year in an attempt to breed him with a female rhino at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, a breeding facility in the Way Kambas National Park of Indonesia.
The zoo called the move “the end of an era” for its Sumatran rhino breeding program, the only captive breeding program in the United States that has produced calves for this crtically-endangered species.
“Despite the great personal sadness so many of us feel both about Harapan leaving and Cincinnati Zoo’s Sumatran rhino breeding program coming to an end, we need to focus on all we have accomplished, for there is much to celebrate,” said Dr. Terri Roth, Director of the Zoo’s Center for Conservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife, in a statement. “The Cincinnati Zoo has had a profound, historic impact on the effort to save this species.”
About 100 of these rhinos exist in the world and only nine live in captivity. One of three calves born at the Cincinnati Zoo, Harapan is the only Sumatran rhino living outside of Southeast Asia.
Visitors will be able to see Harapan on display at the zoo until his departure, sometime later this year.