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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It might sound unconventional to coax a wild rhinoceros into a narrow chute to administer eyedrops, but sometimes the most unorthodox methods prove to be the most effective.
In collaboration with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida, a team of animal behaviorists embarked on a mission to Africa last August. Their goal was to treat an endangered white rhino suffering from a severe parasitic eye infection that threatened its life.
Daniel Terblanche, who oversees security at Imvelo Safari Lodges, admitted that the idea was unprecedented in Zimbabwe. “Honestly, it never crossed our minds; it seemed completely ludicrous,” Terblanche remarked. “Yet, without exploring every possible solution, we might have faced significant challenges.”
Near Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative, with backing from Imvelo Safari Lodges, is actively working to reintegrate southern white rhinos into communal lands—a historic first for the country.
Outside of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative, with support from Imvelo Safari Lodges, engages local communities to reintroduce southern white rhinos to communal lands for the first time in the nation’s history.
Palm Beach Zoo CEO and President Margo McKnight was visiting the area last year when Imvelo Safari Lodges managing director Mark Butcher told her a health scare with a male rhino named Thuza could jeopardize the future of the program.
“This rhino had bleeding eyes. He was rubbing his eyes,” Butcher said. “And I was looking at a potential where this guy was gonna lose his eyesight. And this is in a pilot project that’s got fantastic vision for a future for conservation throughout Africa.”
Thad and Angi Lacinak, founders of Precision Behavior, traveled to Zimbabwe to work with the anti-poacher scouts. They developed a plan based on lessons learned at Palm Beach Zoo, where animals are taught to voluntarily participate in their own care.
“With this few animals in this location in Africa, it was essential that we save all of them,” Angi Lacinak said. “So when they called and said, Thuza is going to lose his eye, a blind rhino is a dead rhino. So no matter what it took, we were going to go over there and try.”
The idea was to coax Thuza into a tight space with his favorite foods and then to desensitize him to humans touching and squirting water on the face.
“Within about a week, we were actually putting the eye drops strategically in his eyes while he held for it,” Lacinak said. “And by the end of two weeks, we had transferred that skill set to not only Daniel, who was in charge of leading their guards, but to the guards.”
The conservation status of southern white rhinos is listed as near threatened, with about 16,000 animals living in the wild. Poaching and habitat loss remain significant sources of danger. So while Thuza and other rhinos continue to face challenges in the wild, at least the animal’s eyes have been protected.
“They’re consistently getting the medications into his eyes every day,” Lacinak said. “And the rhinos are just thriving now and they feel really, really confident that this solved their problem.”