Seeing again after 10 years of goodbye, Dieu KGiang cheerfully patted my shoulder, said: ‘Very well! ..’, implicitly, he complimented me on my health. Throwing the bag of the fruit he had just picked, he sat on the ground, Dieu KGiang blurted out: ‘Come here, Pai has long since died! .. The forest is empty, sad, I don’t want to enter! ..’ .
Back to Cat Loc, the old forest is still there, my friend Dieu KGiang is still here. But, the spirit of the mountains, the Pai ro mhai (the locals use to call the single-horned Javan rhino) has long been absent. KGiang’s bird wanders under the sunlight in the afternoon and weaves through the fields during the autumn season.
It turns out, in the heart of the gentle STieng man who has lived for many generations on this land, the memory of the last one-horned Javan rhino shot down in the old forest of Cat Loc is still there. Even though, 10 long years is not a short period of time, it is enough to heal a long pain. Mr. Dieu KGiang was sad when he recalled the one-horned Javan rhino. The panic passed, the image of the last rhino fluttering through its memory suddenly came to life. KGiang drunkenly and unambiguously told me about the times “getting bored” with the single-horned Javan rhino in Bau Chim marshland when he came back to take a mud bath and lick the soil for minerals. He remembers the first time he discovered a rhino on the edge of Cat Loc forest: “Our family has 4 buffaloes but that day we counted 5. The fifth child is a rhino, taking a mud bath with a herd of buffaloes, but it is in another muddy corner! .. I stand just over ten meters away from it. Good look! .. ”. Dieu KGiang said, a large rhino, its black and shiny like a buffalo, but short and long, has a sharp horn in front of the nose, close to arm’s length. After that, long time, Dieu KGiang again found him leisurely in Bau Chim area. Affordable, because so lonely, several times a month, he risked his escape from the jungle to go out to be friends with the domestic buffalo. In the land of the gentle and everlasting people, the Javan rhino finally feels peace and security, though danger is lurking around it. The rumor about the billion-dollar value of the horns barely covered has pushed the last rhino to stand in opposition to humans. Rhino is inherently gentle. It never competes for food or territory with other species, nor does it eat animals. The rhino’s food is mainly reeds, bamboo shoots, rattan buds, leaves… and licking soil for minerals. In the old forest of Cat Loc, rhino’s only enemy is almost human. Free migration has made the peaceful land of STiengs cramped. The “expansion” and destruction of human forest land made the territory and food of the rhino increasingly narrowed and scarce. Unfortunately for this animal because carrying a sharp horn on its head, those who have a lot of money claim to cure the “panacea”. Poachers hunt it day and night. If so, scientists and Cat Tien National Park must use camera traps, placed in many locations in the deep forest to record the moments of the last rhino. More than anyone, Dieu KGiang has seen with his own eyes every detail. Many times, he stood very close. The rhino senses that Dieu KGiang is not the one causing the danger. “The first times, it usually keeps a very long distance from me. Meet it all the time, it’s familiar, I stand close but it still leisurely lick the soil for minerals. One day it was soaked with mud below, I sat right on the bank! .. ”, said Dieu KGiang. Then one day, gunshots rang in the middle of the old Cat Loc forest. Not long after, wildlife experts of the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared: The last single-horned Javan rhino in its population died in the Cat Loc jungle. The rhino species in Vietnam is officially extinct after decades of hope with conservation projects. Dieu KGiang was in pain like losing a loved one. It was a late afternoon in April 2010, 10 years ago. The Javan rhino skeleton is being kept at Cat Tien National Park. The day it was announced that the lone rhino was found dead by a shallow stream in the depths of the forest, the granddaughter of Dieu KGiang ran through a hut that was covered with forest leaves in panic called out: “Pai ro Uncle Ba’s mhai (common name Dieu KGiang) is dead! … “. So from now on, Cat Loc old growth forest has permanently lost all footprints of Javan rhino species, which belonged to the animal lineages that once took a majestic walk to keep the old forest. My friend, Dieu KGiang was disappointed, did not reply halfway to his nephew. He was lost in his heart in the middle of a hut on the edge of the forest, gazing at Bau Chim area. That day, Dieu KGiang skipped dinner! .. For a long time, the responsible people repudiated, blaming the cause of death of this rhino on old age, natural death. Scientists of the International Organization for Nature Conservation are noisy, skeptical, demanding to verify and examine the skeleton. Dieu KGiang asserted: it died from being shot, but it could not be another cause. At this time he has not been to the scene But, the “bored touch” just over ten meters away with this last rhino is a solid basis for Dieu KGiang to assert that it was shot dead but could not be old or weak. “It is completely healthy, round fat, black skin, shiny, unable to die due to old age! ..”, Dieu KGiang asserted. Remember, before the 1980s of last century, experts once declared rhino species extinct in Vietnam. At this time, Dieu KGiang waved his hand, saying rhino was still alive in the old forest of Cat Loc, his hometown. However, no one cares about the voice of a lifelong farmer who only knows buffalo breeding, gathering and living off the forest. And, Dieu KGiang himself did not pay attention to the academic statements of experts and scientists, that rhino was extinct in Vietnam. As long as he and the STieng community living on the edge of the Cat Loc forest know that there is still a population of Pai ro mhai living in the jungle, a few hills away from the other side. That is enough!.. For a long time, in 1988, it was discovered that an adult rhino was shot dead in the forest of Cat Loc, when some people suddenly remembered the words of Dieu KGiang. Also from here, people believe him. The forest in Cat Loc is rich in bamboo, which is a favorite food for rhino. News Cat Tien National Park still has a population of fast spreading single-horn Javan rhinoceros that shocked the zoological circles at home and abroad. In the months and days that followed, Dieu KGiang was busy day and night. He became a guide for scientists to track down rhino traces to “verify information”. He was even trusted by experts of the International Organization for Conservation of Nature, entrusted with automatic cameras to trap and photograph rhinos, even at night. In the effort, in 1989, the domestic and international zoologists had enough grounds to announce that in Cat Loc, the single-horned Javan rhino was about 10-15. A sanctuary for this particular animal was quickly deployed in Cat Loc in the scientists’ last effort to save them. Since then, every time there are conferences and meetings involving Pai ro mhai, Dieu KGiang is honored to be invited to attend. However, in 2010, the lone rhino once walked in the thick forests of Cat Loc and was shot down by poachers. The last attempt to conserve this particularly rare rhino has failed. Vietnam officially goes extinct one-horned Javan rhino. Experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature are disappointed, and the KGiang is painful. This time he confirmed the information. In the evening, the mountain was hidden, the night was creeping through the fields. Dieu KGiang shook his head, saying that from that day, Cat Loc had run out of Pai ro mhai. The spirit of the mountains and the sacred symbol of the gentle STieng community who lives nestled in the jungle were killed by poachers to their last child. Now, when chasing buffalo herds into Bau Chim area for grazing, or one day wandering in the old forest of Cat Loc to pick rattan and bamboo shoots, Dieu KGiang tries to imagine the image of the last single-horned rhino the same year to comfort oneself. But, where to find it! …
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