WATCH: Rhino rescued from muddy trap
It was hard work getting a rhino out of a mud wallow in Phinda Game Reserve.
THE latest good news story to come out of the current drought is the saving of a black rhino trapped in a mud wallow at Phinda Private Game Reserve.
‘This waterhole was favoured by this particular black rhino bull,’ said Phinda Conservation Manager Simon Naylor.
‘I am not entirely sure how he ended up in the middle of this muddy waterhole but, on this day there was a little surface water and I think he could smell it and tried to get to it and got stuck in the process’.
Naylor had spotted the trapped rhino while on a routine patrol. Stuck in the centre of the rapidly drying waterhole, the animal was too far away for Phinda staff to fasten a rope around it and they discarded the option of darting it for fear it might drop its head and drown.
With limited options and time marching on, Naylor and his team decided to try and dig the animal out of the quagmire.
While the general rule of thumb in game reserve management is to let nature take its course, with rhino poachings on the rise and the animals’ numbers dwindling, conservation managers simply cannot risk the unnecessary loss of these animals.
As confirmed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife on Monday, KZN’s number of total poached rhinos currently sits at 104.
Read more on the rhino rescue in the ZO Weekend edition out on Thursday.
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