PUNTUNG, one of the last three Sumatran rhinoceroses in Malaysia, was euthanatised today.  

The cancer-stricken mammal was put to sleep about 4am today at the Tabin Wildife Reserve in Lahad Datu by the Sabah Wildlife Department.  

Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said Puntung’s skin cancer had spread rapidly and there had been obvious signs that she had difficulty breathing.
 
“In consultation with our rhino reproduction advisers at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin and others, the decision was taken to end her growing discomfort, and bring forward the procedure from the planned date of June 15,” he said in a statement. 
 
In hopes for the survival of the species, Tuuga said Puntung’s ovaries were rushed to the Agro-biotechnology Institute in Serdang, Selangor.
 
There, Indonesian reproductive specialist Professor Arief Boediono from Jakarta will attempt to recover egg cells for an intracytoplasmic sperm injection from the male rhino, Tam. 
 
“We will know the outcome (of the attempt at fertilisation) within a few days,” said Tugga, adding that tissue samples had also been collected so that Puntung’s genome could be preserved through cell cultures. 
 
Puntung was receiving 24 hour care from keepers when experts realised that her condition had worsened by the appearance of squamous cancer in her nostrils. 

Two molars and a premolar in her upper jaw were removed in April to heal an abscess.
 
Puntung was captured in 2011 and had since remained in captivity at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin, along with another female, Iman, and a male, also called Puntung, of the same species 
 
The Sumatran rhinoceros no longer exists in the wild in Malaysia. – June 4, 2017.