New baby rhino arrives at Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary

Saturday night gunshots were heard near a Kruger National Park gate, prompting rangers to investigate. Their search led them to a dead female rhinoceros, cruelly butchered by poachers. They were not able to find her calf until the next day. By then she had been attacked by predators: both her ears were ripped off, and she suffered a leg fracture. She was brought to Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary, where she received urgent veterinary care. For the last few days, Care for Wild manager Petronel Niewoudt and the team of ACE volunteers have been working around the clock to save the little rhino. She is only 3-4 weeks old, so still very young, and her injuries and trauma are significant. She has accepted being bottle-fed almost instantly though, which is the first big hurdle in helping her recover.

Everybody is holding their breath, hoping that her spirit, and appetite, won’t flag and that she’ll pull through and recover. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for this little girl!

Update 28 April

We are happy to be able to report that the little rhino girl is doing well. The injuries to her ears and legs are substantial, but her wounds are healing well. She is also more settled around the Care for Wild team now, and she continues to feed well.