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Vet's approach rescues baby rhinos - 9th September 2022
Over three quarters of the world's rhino population live in South Africa. This makes it a dangerous place due to poaching. Poachers kill animals without permission.
One white rhino horn can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars. They're in high demand in Asia, where the horns are used in traditional medicine.
The babies weigh only 20 kilograms at birth and without mothers, they're in great danger and need 24/7 attention. At a centre for the baby animals, the Rhino Orphanage, care is managed by talented vet Doctor Pierre Bester, who's known as "the rhino whisperer".
Dr Pierre Bester: "Firstly, mostly, their mothers have been poached. So they, from two weeks, three weeks, a month, six months – but all come here and you handle them differently. And you get them and you put them in crèches, put them in, in – give them a friend and then they cope."
The death of the baby rhinos' mothers is extremely damaging for them. Dr Bester's developed different techniques to help, such as arranging a sheep friend for the rhinos. The babies' carers can choose to spend the night close by as well, to help relax the young animals.
These different solutions explain why the Rhino Orphanage has been so successful.
Yolande van der Merwe: "Working with Dr. Pierre is – it's amazing. We are so incredibly privileged to have a vet that's not a textbook vet, that thinks outside the box, that is willing to do things alternatively. He's very clever. He always finds a solution. He always makes a plan."
The orphanage recently transferred to a new, top-secret area. It's hoped that these rhinos will eventually return to the wild, but only if Bester and his team can think of enough ways to protect them.
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