* NEW ARRIVAL *
Last night the Team received yet another heart-breaking call to pick up an orphaned rhino calf. Another little female calf that has lost her mother to poachers. We set out just after 4am to fetch her.
It has been a long day for carers and calf into early evening and we are still trying to get her to take milk. As usual she is blindfolded and her ears plugged to minimize outside stimuli and stress. We have however taken the next step and removed the earplugs so that she can get used to and respond to the comfort of our voices. Fingers crossed she drinks very soon
Thank you to Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation for their donation of intravenous fluids, mattresses, Protexin supplements, adhesive support bandages and so much more that we use on these new babies. And thank you also to Blankets for Baby Rhinos for providing the little ones with the comfort of a soft blanket.
Little Charlotte is slowly but surely adjusting to her new life. She has taken her first steps outside in the smaller bomas yesterday and out to a larger area this morning. She is full of life and energy today.
As with many orphaned calves Charlotte is showing a substantial amount of sand in her feaces. The sand in the gut can lead to major health problems and she is receiving intensive treatment for this. The carers are monitoring her closely for signs of sand colic and every single defecation is tested. Orphaned calves often eat sand when they have lost their mothers, possibly due to hunger but even more so due to stress.
Medical bills accumulate substantially with new arrivals and your contributions lessen this burden.
22 February 2018 – Update
The much anticipated introduction between Mofalodi and Charlotte (Lolli & Lottie ❤) has been a tremendous success. Cautious at first, cheeky little Charlotte’s stronger personality quickly made an appearance and Mofalodi, being the more patient introvert, kept close by her human carers. Little Charlotte got extremely excited and just couldn’t stop running. The joy was contagious to all the human mommies keeping close watch.
But in the end animal instincts have taken over and it took less than half an hour for the two girls to respond to each other’s calls and go off to explore together.
All in all we can truly say that this has been a great day.