How Luke, 9, saved a rhino

Published Apr 30, 2015

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Durban - It’s not often that members of the public, worried about the plight of South Africa’s rhinos, get the chance to contribute personally to the protection of this increasingly threatened species.

But thanks to the compassion – and persistent nagging – of a 9-year-old Durban schoolboy, one rhino was spared a lingering death this week in Mkhuze Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal.

Luke Cuthbert was on holiday at Mkhuze over the Freedom Day long weekend when he had his chance to save a rhino.

On Sunday, while his parents, David and Lorien, retired for a siesta, Luke grabbed his camera and spent the afternoon watching out for birds and animals coming to drink from the pan near their bush camp.

“We were enjoying an afternoon nap when Luke woke us up: ‘Dad, Mom … come quickly. There is a rhino with a snare around it’s foot. We have to help it!’”

Then he showed them close-up pictures he had taken of the rhino’s badly injured front leg.

“We weren’t too sure how we could help,” said Lorien, “but Luke suggested we phone the camp reception because he had seen a notice board at KuMasinga hide the day before, advising visitors to report any sightings of snared or injured animals.”

They phoned the reception desk to report the snared rhino sighting and were told that this would be reported to conservation staff.

“Five minutes later,” said his mom, “Luke demanded: ‘What’s happening?’ So my husband phoned again. They were very helpful, but said the conservation staff were out in the field and would come as soon as they could.”

Luke, a pupil at Westville Junior Primary, nagged yet again. So his father loaded a picture of the wounded animal to his cellphone and sent it via WhatsApp to the rangers.

“It turned out that they were busy dealing with snare injuries to other animals, but when they saw the WhatsApp picture they arrived within 10 or 15 minutes.”

Cuthbert said the wounded animal was immobilised by Ezemvelo conservation staff who removed the snare and treated the wound.

They said that if the wound had been left unattended the animal would have died, but they would still have to keep a close watch on it for several weeks, he said.

“Luke is thrilled that there is one less dead rhino,” said his mom.

Dr Mike Toft, the vet who treated the injured bull, said the injury had been caught just in time, before the snare cut the rhino’s tendons.

“There was a length of wire trailing the snare and when the bull stepped on this with its hind feet it got tighter and tighter. It’s lucky that we got it off when we did,” said Toft.

The Mercury

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