The Great Rhino Rescue: Saving the Southern White Rhinos
For Linda Wolfe and the students of Seven Hills School in Cincinnati Ohio Acknowledgments The author would like to thank the following people for sharing their enthusiasm and expertise Dr William Fowlds wildlife veterinarian the Wilderness Foundation Medivet Project Coordinator Dr Lorinda Hern Cofounder of the Rhino Rescue Project Henry Holsthyzen K9 Security Solutions and Dr Richard Vigne Chief Executive Officer at Ol Pejeta Conservancy A special thank you to Skip Jeffery for his loving support during the creative process
TABLE OF CONTENTS Trouble 4 Once Extinct 9 Miracle 14 Too Valuable 18 Nosing into Trouble 20 Making the Horns Worthless 24 Helping the Survivors 28 Patrolling and Relocating 32 Guarding the Present 38 Author's Note 44 Timeline 45 Source Notes 46 Glossary 46 Find Out More 47 Index 48
TROUBLES The fireball sun is low in the sky Though night is coming hot air still shimmers over the savanna in South Africa's Kruger National Park A large female Southern white rhino plods through the lengthening shadows while her young calf trots beside her
With a huff and a grunt the mother rhino stops and her calf stops too She bends her big head to the ground and nips off a mouthful of grass to chew The calf noses beneath the mother's belly by her hind legs and begins to nurse For this calf all is now right with the world But the mother's ears twist to home in on an unusual sound in the rustling grass At first a baby rhino has only bumps where its horns will grow That way it doesn't hurt its mother while nursing
