KOTA KINABALU: Tam, the last Sumatran rhinocerous in Malaysia, is not in the best of health, said Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Christina Liew.
She said that Tam’s health condition was becoming more serious and worrying.
“His appetite and level of activity have dropped suddenly since the end of April and, currently, Tam is being given medicine daily because some of his internal organs are not functioning well,“ she said in a statement here today.
She said Tam was caught in Kretam in August 2008 and had been taken out of the jungle which had been turned into an oil palm plantation.
“Tam was then taken to the Tabin Wildlife Forest Reserve. Tam is one of the Sumatran rhinocerous in Malaysia, other than Iman, which is the only female Sumatran rhinocerous in Malaysia,“ she said.
In June, 2017, Puntung, one of the last three Sumatran rhinocerous at that time, died after it was euthanised, after suffering from skin cancer in the Tabin Wildlife Forest Reserve. — Bernama
