By Sulok Tawie

KUCHING - A 50-member expedition will comb the Pulong Tau national park in northern Sarawak for the Sumatran rhinoceros, last seen over 50 years ago.

The team comprising personnel from the Sarawak Forest Department, WWF Malaysia and timber company Samling Sdn Bhd will begin the 10-day search on Monday.

"The last reported sightings of the animal were at Sungai Adang, Long Seridan and Batu Lawi in the Upper Limbang area in the 1950s," state Forest Deparment director Datuk Len Talif Salleh told reporters after the launch of the expedition at the Samajaya Forest Park yesterday.

"We are not sure whether there are any rhinos still roaming in Pulong Tau, though footprints were found near the foot of Gunong Batu Lawi in 1996," he said.

But since then, he said, no follow-up studies have been done.

A recent picture thought to be of a rhinoceros taken by a camera trap near Batu Lawi last year was too grainy because of the poor quality of the camera to make a proper identification.

With the help of the Sarawak Timber Association, the Forest Department now has 10 quality cameras that have already been set up near the foot of Batu Lawi.

He said there is no historical record of a rhino population in Sarawak.

The animal was only known to roam in Sabah.

The Pulong Tau national park was gazetted in 2005 to protect 59,817 hectares of pristine rain forest.

It includes Gunung Murud, Sarawak's highest peak at 2,424 metres and the Tama Abu Range.

It is the site of the transboundary biodiversity conservation project with the Kayan Mentarang national park of East Kalimantan.

This project is supported by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) and the Forest Department is the implementing agency.

The objective is to boost the conservation and management of the highland ecosystems and the development of local communities living at the periphery of the park.

The Pulong Tau national park is located between the Limbang and Marudi districts in northeastern Sarawak.