More than 30 newborn rhinos that were left orphaned have recently been moved by veterinarians in South Africa to a refuge meant to protect them from the same poachers who killed their moms.
The relocation took six weeks and involved extensive planning, including assistance from the orphans’ animal friends.
Yolande van der Merwe, who oversees their new home, said:
“We can’t just move them all at the same time and go ‘boom, there’s a new home’.
“You have to take it on very carefully because they’re sensitive animals”.
The Rhino Orphanage, run by 40-year-old van der Merwe, provides care for calves that have been orphaned by poachers, rehabilitates them, and then releases them back into the wild.
After its previous lease expired this month, the non-profit organisation relocated to larger quarters in the northern state of Limpopo, hidden between game ranches.
The final rhino to be relocated was Benji, a young white calf.
Rhinos weigh about 20 kilogrammes at birth and are not much bigger than an adult human knee (44 pounds).
However, they eat a lot and gain weight quickly, growing to half a tonne in their first year of life.
Staff members were concerned that Benji would panic while being put under anaesthesia and loaded into the back of a truck because of his recent loss.
Fortunately, Benji’s sheep friend, Button, was by his side the entire time, and his assistance made sure that everything happened without a hitch.
Pierre Bester, a 55-year-old veterinarian who has been involved with the orphanage since its founding 10 years ago, said:
“Mostly, their mothers have been poached”
“(They) all come here, and you handle them differently… you put them in crèches, give them a friend and then they cope.”
Most rhinos in the world—nearly 80%—live in South Africa.
The demand from Asia, where rhino horns are allegedly used for curative purposes in traditional medicine, however, makes it a hotspot for rhino poaching.
Rhino horns sell for tens of thousands of dollars on the underground market.
Government statistics show that more over 450 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2021.
A group of caregivers at the sanctuary take care of orphaned calves and sometimes work 24-hour shifts while sleeping in the same cage as the animals to help them adapt.
van der Merwe said:
“Rhinos have their calves at foot the whole day, 24/7, and that’s the kind of care they require.
“So we need to give that intense love and care to get them through the trauma,”
The animals are returned to the wild once they are well enough. Normally, up to 90% make it.
Benji and his friends may enjoy larger cages with more room to wander at the new sanctuary.
As part of a variety of security measures to deter poaching, they are fitted with specialised transmitters to track their movements.
According to AFP, the orphanage requested that AFP reporters not reveal the location of its new home.
“It is a war out there,” Bester explained.