** New Arrival **
A female white rhino calf was brought to the orphanage on Monday afternoon from a private game reserve after she was found alone, in a weakened state and an extremely low body condition. Not a victim of poaching but of the continuous drought in South Africa the last couple of years. Unfortunately she crashed at the Orphanage during the early hours of Tuesday morning and her heart rate, pulse and blood glucose dropped severely. She couldn’t get up on her feet and we feared that her organs were starting to fail.
With two of our permanent staff members by her side 24/7, our vet giving her daily check ups, IV line running permanently as well as administering oxygen frequently we feared the worst. Her heart rate dropped to a terrifying 4 beats per minute, her blood glucose levels so low it didn’t register. Just as we thought we were losing her she got up and walked around a few paces and then lay down again. Leaving the carers dumbstruck…… We then discovered that she had bleeding gastric ulcers and her faeces so impacted we have to help remove them manually. She also has a lot of sand in the gut and refuse all forms of food. Because she isnt eating our vet started administering intravenous “food”. It seems that she is slowly metabolizing the lipids (fat molecules) from the IV as her blood glucose is registering again. Not high enough but better than nothing. Her heart rate is still slow and sometimes arythmic…. but beating.
Last night and today we have seen a slight improvement in her vitals and she has walked around a little more. Our carers, Janie, Zanre and Yolande remain by her side, trying to get food and fluids into her, supporting her when she walks and taking vitals every hour while our absolutely incredible volunteers Alondra, Laura and Jackie see to all the other orphans here.
This girl is one heck of a fighter, she refuses to give up and so do we. We named her Ajali which means “Chance” in Swahili because we believe in second chances and we believe #thereishope.
Please pray for Ajali as she fights for her life. *Updates to follow as we get a chance*
Update
Ajali finally started eating dry food and her vitals are stable. Her heart rate is slowly on the increase now sitting at a much stronger 26bpm. We have removed her IV’s to prevent tissue damage and she is maintaining a stable body temperature without the aid of warm iv, hot water bottles and blankets. We have a long road ahead and we aren’t in the clear yet but the sun sure is shining brightly this morning.
Update
Our beautiful miracle Ajali is still with us. Her blindfold has been off for the last two days. Her heart rate, bloodglucose and respiration is still a lot lower than it should be but she is eating well and drinking her electrolytes and water. Allthough things are looking up, Ajali has a long road to recovery. We are still monitoring her 24/7.
**21 October 2018**
A Sad Update on Ajali
** Ajali’s final update ** The past week has been a tough and emotionally draining one for our Team. And it is with heavy hearts that we share this post. Our beautiful miracle Ajali, took her final breath early on Thursday morning.
Wednesday morning Ajali was taken out into an outside enclosure to soak up some sun and meet a new friend, Davide. Hear heart rate was up, she was eating and drinking, allthough still tired. Davi was very attentive, touched Ajali softly on her face and horn and settled beside her for the day. By the late afternoon Ajali suffered a relapse and couldn’t stand up.
She appeared to be in mild pain. We proceded to give her pain medication but her conditioned worsened throughout the night and she suffered very severe colic. By the early morning hours even the strongest intravenous pain medications had no positive effect and we had no choice but to put Ajali out of her suffering. Her post mortem revealed severe gut intestinal problems and there would have been nothing that anyone could do to save her.
Ajali took our Team from the lowest of low at 4 beats per minute to the highest of highs. And back to the lowest she could when we had to let her go.
It has been a very hard week but we want to remember Ajali on the morning she soaked up the sun and spent some time with a new friend…..our #miracle and #herorhino.. Rest in Peace dear sweet Rhino