Cape Town - In spite of intense efforts, an ailing, one-week old rhino died after being abandoned on a farm in Limpopo.
Divan Grobler, conservation manager at the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Touws River, said he received a call to assist with the infant rhino.
“We are on 24-hour standby to assist any calves in the country,” he said.
Grobler added that a number of people who house infant rhinos were unaware of how to care for them when they fell ill.
He said that if the mother dies, feeding the calf is a sensitive procedure because the infants are lactose intolerant and need special formula to prevent them from contracting problems in their gut. The animals are also highly susceptible to infection.
Grobler said that when a calf is sick or separated from its mother, they need to work fast to save it.
When he received the call from Limpopo last week, he found out that the infant rhino was receiving the incorrect milk formula and probiotics.
Hunter Mitchell with Divan Grobler and two rescued rhino orphans being cared for at the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Touws River. Picture: Supplied
“We suspect he had some internal injuries,” said Grobler, who explained that the calf’s eyes were bloodshot and bulging, an indication that it took a blow to the head that caused haemorrhaging.
The conservationists are unclear about the circumstances, but they suspect that either the mother was poached and the poachers hurt the calf, or it was kicked by a giraffe and ran away from its mother due to shock and concussion.
“There is a high possibility that the mom was poached. It is very odd that a mom would abandon her baby. It could be poachers who injured him or the giraffe,” Grobler said.
The adult rhino has not been found.
Grobler said when he saw the calf, it could barely stand.
“We put him on a drip and gave him cortisone. We tried to get fluid into his body,” he said.
After the medication and the drips were administered, the infant rhino seemed much better, Grobler said.
However, this was merely the medication masking its worsening condition.
“We couldn't keep pumping him with medication. After six hours he went down again. We tried feeding him electrolytes using a syringe,” Grobler said.
A veterinarian was called and after accessing the animal,he diagnosed that the rhino was “not looking good”.
“We tried to get a drip in again, but by then his veins had already collapsed. He was very weak. We did everything we could for him, but he was already too far gone,” Grobler said.
“The vet presumed that he had a very hard kick to the head.” The rhino died last Saturday.
Hunter Mitchell, 10, raised money to help care for an abandoned rhino calf called Osita, which was being cared for at the Aquila Private Game Reserve in 2015.
He continued to raise funds and has also increased awareness through the Saving Private Rhino campaign.
Hunter said that he heard that Grobler was off to Limpopo to help save an infant rhino. He said he was very sad when he discovered that the calf died.
Hunter believes that there should be more awareness around rhinos and poaching, which often leaves infant rhinos orphaned and unable to fend for themselves.
To preserve the memory of the calf that died, he decided to name him Tumelo, which means “faith and believe” in Sotho. “I am very disappointed that I did not get to meet him. But Tumelo didn’t die alone because he is part of our family,” said Hunter.