TonyP
New member
Big things happening at the sanctuary in the near future.
The Kruger National Park is the home to about 80% of South Africa's remaining rhino in the wild and as such is the custodian of these beautiful animals. Poaching is a huge problem as we all know.
In the past an adult rhino who is badly wounded and probably wouldn't survive in the wild was euthanized, simply because Kruger Park is all about vast wild spaces and they absolutely don't have the facilities to care for wounded or orphaned animals. This is the reason that their orphans are sent to us.
We have held many meetings with them and from here on, animals that are wounded but would still have a chance at survival in a facility such as ours, where they could receive individual treatment and care, will be transported to us.
So, we are gearing up to receive these big, fully grown, wild rhino in the future. This obviously requires new stronger bomas, medical facilities to accommodate fully grown rhino etc.
As an example of the need to change handling facilities, in order to handle large wild rhino most of them would have to be darted and tranquilized. All our existing bomas are built in a square shape, which becomes a problem for darting adult black rhino. Black rhinos have the habit of rushing into a corner of the boma after being darted and end up suffocating themselves. To get around this, we have to build circular bomas for any black rhino we might receive.
A few large trucks will have to be purchased, there's no way an adult will fit in a helicopter, ICU facilities will have to be enlarged and re-designed keeping staff safety in mind. This is a big undertaking, but we will get it done.
So exciting and possibly dangerous times for our care givers at the sanctuary going forward, but we are convinced that this is the right way to go for the sake of the rhino as a species. We simply cannot afford to lose one more rhino unnecessarily and with our experience of rescuing orphans over the years, we are with out a doubt the best chance any injured wild adult will get.
Watch this space!!
The Kruger National Park is the home to about 80% of South Africa's remaining rhino in the wild and as such is the custodian of these beautiful animals. Poaching is a huge problem as we all know.
In the past an adult rhino who is badly wounded and probably wouldn't survive in the wild was euthanized, simply because Kruger Park is all about vast wild spaces and they absolutely don't have the facilities to care for wounded or orphaned animals. This is the reason that their orphans are sent to us.
We have held many meetings with them and from here on, animals that are wounded but would still have a chance at survival in a facility such as ours, where they could receive individual treatment and care, will be transported to us.
So, we are gearing up to receive these big, fully grown, wild rhino in the future. This obviously requires new stronger bomas, medical facilities to accommodate fully grown rhino etc.
As an example of the need to change handling facilities, in order to handle large wild rhino most of them would have to be darted and tranquilized. All our existing bomas are built in a square shape, which becomes a problem for darting adult black rhino. Black rhinos have the habit of rushing into a corner of the boma after being darted and end up suffocating themselves. To get around this, we have to build circular bomas for any black rhino we might receive.
A few large trucks will have to be purchased, there's no way an adult will fit in a helicopter, ICU facilities will have to be enlarged and re-designed keeping staff safety in mind. This is a big undertaking, but we will get it done.
So exciting and possibly dangerous times for our care givers at the sanctuary going forward, but we are convinced that this is the right way to go for the sake of the rhino as a species. We simply cannot afford to lose one more rhino unnecessarily and with our experience of rescuing orphans over the years, we are with out a doubt the best chance any injured wild adult will get.
Watch this space!!
