We had another early start on Thursday - up at 4.45am. The vet wasn't arriving until 8.30am, but we had to give ourselves time to find him first. Given his penchant for vehicles, we didn't have to wait too long and he had shown himself by 6am. We then tried to coax him out of a thicket area, as it can be dangerous for the animal to be darted in a location where it is difficult to get him out quickly. And as you can imagine, an unconscious rhino is not that easy to move! So we drove slowly to get him to follow us onto open ground, which he duly did, walking around 50 metres behind us - just like a dog.
I would never have imagined myself getting attached to a rhino, but this guy is quite a character. His mother was killed by poachers and he was hand-reared, so he is familiar with humans. Having seen his behaviour for a couple of hours, he just seems to be curious when people are around rather than aggressive. Unfortunately his habit of sprinting towards the vehicles and subsequently butting them - which has had some of the guests screaming - is not doing his image any favours.
As he followed us into open ground, he started to break into a trot and then gathered speed until he had caught us up and was running alongside us. It was incredible to see. I was at the back of the land rover, so the game ranger told me to shout at him and clap my hands. So I found myself yelling "hey" at a rhino in the vain attempt to get it to stop. After a while, he did! I have some amusing video footage of this episode which conveys the general impression of what was going on, but the file is too big to upload on the slower connection here so I'll have to do it when I get home.
By this point, we were concerned that he would be over-heated just before the darting, so we drove ahead to get out of his way to allow him to calm down and cool off. By that point, I think he got bored and went off in his own direction as he wasn't allowed to run after us.
However, we had him secured in reasonably open ground so we just waited until the vet arrived. The vet has his own custom-made trailer, designed specifically for moving animals around. Apart from being huge, it has various trap doors and ladders inside and out, for accessing the animal being transported. The vet was the same one that did the buffalo darting, and once again, he got his man first time. But Kapella took a bit longer to go down and had some more sprinting to do before he would give in to the tranquiliser.
Then after all our efforts to get him into open ground, he managed to fall in the most awkward place possible, in a bit of a ditch under some thicket and tangled up in some old wire fencing. So it was all hands on deck to saw branches and cut the wire to clear a path to get him out. We were joined by a whole bunch of trainee game rangers today, so there were plenty of people to help.
I must say it was absolutely incredible to see him lying down at such close quarters, with his little legs tucked underneath him. I even had the opportunity to touch him, which was a beautiful feeling. I now know where the expression comes from when you refer to someone having a hide like a rhino. It is very thick-skinned - 5cms thick under its stomach apparently.
As he had fallen into such an awkward place, the vet gave him some more drugs to wake him up a little so that we could walk him out towards the trailer, pulling him via a rope that was tied to his head. He got up, but clearly still a little woosy, fell over again. Eventually on his feet, the task was to guide him as quickly as possible into the trailer - he was still blind-folded at this point. The guys who were in the back of the trailer then had to climb out up the ladder and out the trap door to escape before he had fully entered. Some bars were put across the back of him to stop him moving around inside and then we made our 20 minute journey to another part of the reserve to his new home.
At the destination, I was even allowed to climb on top of the trailer to look at him from above - the top of the trailer has a long door which folds back - and see him make his exit. After removing his blindfold, ear plugs and then giving him a nudge with an electrified prodder, he was out the back door and into his new terrain - a place which is full of thicket and ideal for a rhino.
I cannot express in words what a privilege it was to be part of this experience. I was amazed at how close I was allowed to get. The tourist vehicles were told to keep clear before he was caught, but as a volunteer, I was allowed to be right in the thick of the action, alongside the vet and the game rangers. Once again, the vet was so accomplished in how he handled it. It must be quite a responsibility at stake - not only because of the welfare of the animal, but also because of the monetary value it represents for the owner.
The two game captures that I have experienced this week are not commonplace, so I am incredibly lucky to have seen these. Next week we will be capturing one of lions to replace his radio collar. I'm particularly looking forward to that.
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| I see you baby.. |
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| Kapella in his new home |
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