Baby rhino saved from certain death

IN MID-AUGUST, the “rhino patrol” of the Ghaub Nature Reserve in the Otavi mountains raised the alarm – the female calf, born at the beginning of March, limped slightly to spare his right foreleg.

Soon the rangers established the reason: A round wound slightly below the knee. Possibly the calf had rammed its leg into a pointed broken branch. Within a few days the leg swelled; obviously the wound had become infected. In the wild this would have been a clear death sentence.

The veterinarian Dr Mark Jago, known for his vast experience with rhinoceroses, came to Ghaub beginning of September. He and the team of Ghaub had a risky mission to save the calf.

The calf had to be anaesthetised and then the cow had to be kept away from it – but not for too long, otherwise she would consider it dead and turn away. Darting the rhino cow as well was out of the question, because in the process of awaking the animals instinctively start to run. In both cases it would be almost impossible to reunite cow and calf.

On top of that, Jago had to be very careful with the dosage. Now and again the anaesthetic turns out to be too strong, causing the animal to die. Even for himself the mission was dangerous: A few drops of the anaesthetic on the skin can kill a man. Therefore, a helper was ready to inject the antidote immediately.

After Jago darted the rhino baby with the tranquilliser gun and it laid down, a helper drove the car between cow and calf. Again and again she had to move the car forward and backward to block the way for the cow; more than once the rhino charged furiously toward the car, but fortunately it stopped just before the impact.

Other aides covered the head of the calf with a cloth and cooled the small body with water while Jago lanced the wound and cleaned it. In order to increase the chances of recovery, he delivered three different antibiotics, because it is hard to tell in advance which of the drugs will work.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly. After half an hour the calf awoke. However, it took one or two weeks before there was an indication of recovery: The swelling on the knee gradually diminished. Meanwhile, the calf is running well beside its mother; only now and then can you see that it still spares the leg a little.