One of Malaysia’s last rhinoceroses is dying of cancer. The Sumatran rhino, a female named Puntung, has been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, and it has spread quickly.
Experts from Malaysia, and the international community, have all come to the same conclusion: the 25-year old rhino’s cancer is terminal. With or without treatment, there is little they can do to affect the outcome.
Augustine Tuuga, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, told reporters that Puntung can no longer breathe through her left nostril. “She can also no longer vocalise,” he said. “She is in pain and her condition is declining fast. Other than administering painkillers, there is nothing more anyone can do.”
Taking into consideration the suffering she is enduring, specialists agree that euthanasia is the best course of action. Puntung will be euthanized 15 June.
Earlier this year, her carers noticed that some of her teeth were infected, and performed surgery, flying in a specialist dentist from Thailand. Her condition was then found to be worse than anticipated, with the cause of infection determined to be squamous cell carcinoma.
Her untimely fatal illness is a huge blow to the Sumatran rhino population, a critically endangered species. She is only 1 of 3 left in Sabah. The rest can be found on the Indonesian side of Borneo.
After being captured in 2011, she was monitored at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in the Rhino Sanctuaty, along with another female rhino Imam and a male, Kertam. At the time, Puntung was the last wild rhino left in the Reserve.
