The Rhino Orphanage in Limpopo recently took in yet another little rhino orphan.
The orphanage is the world’s first ‘specialist, dedicated, non-commercial centre that cares for orphaned or injured baby rhinos with the only aim of releasing them back into the wild’.
Posting on their Facebook page, the Orphanage explained that the young female is the fourth orphan they have had to take in less than two months. ‘We have no words to describe what we feel, no words to tell those people on the ground trying their absolute hardest to protect the remaining wild rhinos, how sorry we are. No words,’ the organisation said in an emotional message.
‘Little girl, we will try our very best. For you and all the others like you. It will be a long night, there will be calls for your mom and you will be scared. But you are safe now.’
The calf, named Jessie, seemed to be very anxious at first but has started to adapt to her surroundings and her carers once the team introduced her to another female calf called Amelia.
‘She suffered an anxiety attack this afternoon so we have given her a mild sedative and she is resting quietly next to her carer. We have also been treating a small, straight vertical cut on her side which measured between 5mm to 10mm deep and about 8cm long. We suspect that this little girl is very lucky to have come off so lightly from her ordeal,’ the Orphanage posted on Facebook. ‘To help her even further overcome her trauma we called in baby Amelia. The two are an exact match regarding age and size, so close they could be twins.’
Take a look at the pair being fed:
It seems that even during lockdown, poachers throughout the country have not ceased terrorising our precious wildlife. In a recent incident in the Northern Cape, three poachers were arrested and one killed during a shootout.
Image: The Rhino Orphanage
