March 20, 2026 | 10:34 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An 11-second clip from a camera trap circulated among residents. It shows a rhinoceros falling headfirst into a pit trap. The trapped animal was a Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) named Musofa. The capture took place on November 3, 2025, at 8:15pm, not far from the Cigenter River in Ujung Kulon National Park (TNUK), Pandeglang, Banten.
Musofa was successfully moved from his original habitat to the in-situ conservation facility known as the Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area (JRSCA) in Legon Pakis hamlet, Ujungjaya village, Sumur subdistrict, Pandeglang. But the male rhino, estimated to be more than 45 years old, survived only two days in the JRSCA treatment paddock. Musofa was declared dead on November 7, 2025, at 4pm. His death was not immediately announced to the public. It took 20 days before the Ujung Kulon National Park Agency released the news.
Ardi Andono, head of the park authority, said the first ever translocation of a Javan rhinoceros in history had undergone careful planning and involved wildlife conservation experts from Indonesia and abroad, veterinarians, conservation partners, and personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI). The relocation, he explained, aimed at long-term conservation because the deoxyribonucleic acid condition of the Javan rhino population had deteriorated and required systematic breeding efforts.
"All procedures followed international conservation standards, including simulations, ethical assessments, and logistical and security preparations. Musofa was moved without wounds or injuries, but the chronic illness he had long suffered posed a medical challenge that could not be overcome," Ardi said in a written response to Tempo on Friday, March 6, 2026.
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