How do you prevent this…
Or this…
or these…
from becoming one of these?
First you need a sign
A vet
a helicopter
in order to dart the Rhino from the air. Less stressful for the animal and it can be more easily controlled so that it will go down in an area that is safe for both the animal and the team.
a quick acting ground crew to arrive to make sure that Spencer(22) goes down correctly and with the least stress.
many hands to try to control the now sleeping beast
and this is what the team is trying to protect
the posterior horn being filled with marker die
in order to reduce stress, Rhino sized ear plugs
the team are about to roll the animal over
drilling into the anterior horn to fit the transmitter
the second of three holes that had to be drilled in this horn
For me, this was the moment when I knew something was not going to plan.There seemed to be a sadness in this image
Healing hands?
The entire procedure was over in less than an hour. Unfortunately for the rhino, he never recovered from the anesthetic and he died on the scene.A postmortem has already been carried out, but at the time of writing I do not have confirmation as to the cause of death.
Dr Charles van Niekerk, the wildlife vet in charge, has issued the following statement:
“The postmortem supported by laboratory tests indicate that abnormal heart, liver and kidney conditions contributed towards the death of the rhino while immobilized. Each of these lesions on their own would not have been uncommon in a rhino of this age, however, cumulatively they would compromise the health of the rhino. Poisoning as a cause of death has been specifically ruled out by toxicology tests done at Onderstepoort. The presence of body fat would indicate that, despite these underlying conditions, the rhino was eating well and in good condition, thus making it difficult to identify these processes on visual inspection of the animal. Any immobilization puts the body under stress exacerbating underlying pathology. A lung odeoma was found during the postmortem which is also typically associated with the immobilization process.”
Why do we have to put healthy rhino through stressful and potentially dangerous procedures?
This is why: http://www.davidbatzofin.com/2011/11/ugly-side-of-illegal-rhino-poaching.html
