JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – A U.S.-born male Sumatran rhino arrived in his ancestral home of Indonesia on Sunday, making the long journey from Cincinnati, Ohio, on a mission to mate to help save his critically endangered species from extinction.
The 8-year-old rhino, Harapan, was born at Cincinnati’s zoo and spent nearly the past two years as the last Sumatran rhino in the Western Hemisphere.
He arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport Sunday in a special travel crate aboard a Cathay Pacific jet. He continued his trip in a truck to the seaport of Merak and was to be ferried to Sumatra island.
“Thankfully, it has arrived here,” said Bambang Dahono Adji, director of biodiversity conservation at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. He said Harapan would be “officially handed over” to Indonesian authorities on Thursday at Way Kambas National Park, where the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary is located.
The 1,800-pound (816-kilogram) rhino underwent medical checks and was trained to walk into and voluntarily remain in his crate before beginning the more than 10,000-mile (16,000-kilometer) trip on Friday, ending a captive breeding program for the species at the Cincinnati Zoo that had produced three rhinos.