- If it’s stupid but it works, it’s not stupid.
The best plan is sometimes the most harebrained plan. It doesn’t really matter how out of left field it is if it gets you the results you need.
A recent rhino rescue story from Zimbabwe is a testament to that.
Thuza, a rare male white rhino introduced to a new area in the country, had developed a difficult parasitic eye infection. The condition threatened to blind him, which would’ve undoubtedly spelled his doom.
Fortunately, there is a cure for Thuza’s illness. However, it comes as eye drops, and that proved a bit of a problem.
Even in perfect health, rhinos aren’t particularly tolerant of strangers. Take an irate, half-blind rhino and… Well, you try giving him eyedrops.
Experts from a Florida zoo flew to Zimbabwe to try to resolve the issue. Luckily, they knew just what to do.
They essentially gave Thuza touch therapy.
By luring him into a tight chute with his favorite treats, the animal experts slowly taught Thuza to tolerate humans touching him. In less than a week, they were successfully administering the eye drop to Thuza, who is now on the road to recovery.
“Believe me, we didn’t think of it; it was a completely ridiculous idea to us,” said Daniel Terblanche about the plan.
Once again, though: if it works…
Bleeding Eyes
White rhinos are a threatened subspecies of rhinoceroses from southern Africa. In Zimbabwe, they live mostly in the Hwange National Park.
In recent years, however, the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative has started attempting to help the rhinos spread to other areas they once occupied. For the first time in Zimbabwe’s history, they’re working to introduce white rhinos to communal lands around the country.
That’s where Thuza comes in. He has been taken to live in an area managed by Imvelo Safari Lodges.
Last year, Thuza developed a serious health issue. Parasites managed to burrow into his eyes and slowly started blinding the poor rhino.
“This rhino had bleeding eyes. He was rubbing his eyes,” Mark Butcher, Imvelo Safari Lodges’ managing director, told the Associated Press. “And I was looking at a potential where this guy was gonna lose his eyesight.”
For a rhino, going blind is a death sentence. So, Butcher and his staff started looking for a way to give the 4,500-pound behemoth the medication he needed.
‘Trying All the Things’
Their search for solutions led them to Thad and Angi Lacinak. They had formerly worked with Palm Beach Zoo to develop a program that teaches animals to voluntarily take part in their healthcare.
Of course, there’s a difference between getting a zoo animal and a wild rhino to stand still while people poke them with various implements. Yet, the Lacinaks were going to give it a shot.
“With this few [rhinos] in this location in Africa, it was essential that we save all of them. So, when they called and said, Thuza is going to lose his eye, a blind rhino is a dead rhino … No matter what it took, we were going to go over there and try,” said Angi Lacinak.
The Lacinaks’ plan was to lure Thuza into a tight enclosure, basically a rhino funnel, with his favorite foods. Once trapped, the animal experts and safari staff would touch him and splash water on his face to simulate the experience of getting eye drops.
That sure sounds like a surefire way to piss off a rhino. The safari staff thought the plan was insane, too, but what other option did they have?
“Without trying all of the things that we could to rectify that situation, we would have been in trouble, I think,” said Terblanche.
Excellent Results
And so, they put the plan into action. Every day, they’d coax Thuza into his funnel, followed by lots of pets, pokes, and splashes of water.
Surprisingly, that didn’t result in a rhino rampage. Thuza shocked everybody by being extremely tolerant of being handled.
“Within about a week, we were actually putting the eye drops strategically in his eyes while he held for it,” explained Lacinak.
“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.”
Now, Thuza is getting a daily dose of eye drops, and he seems to be just fine with it. His condition has improved significantly, and he’s on the road to recovery.
That said, he still doesn’t have an easy life ahead of him. White rhinos are one of poachers’ favorite targets, and illegal hunting is a threat to every rhino.
But at least Thuza’s eyes are now working again, so he has a fighting chance.