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‘Ridiculous’ Plan Developed at Florida Zoo Saves Wild Rhino’s Eyesight in Africa
Animal behaviorists used voluntary cooperation training to treat a parasitic eye infection in a wild rhino, helping protect a key conservation reintroduction program in Africa.
- Last year, Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society animal behaviorists traveled to Zimbabwe to help Thuza, a male southern white rhino, after Mark Butcher warned his infection could jeopardize reintroduction.
- Project leaders warned of immediate danger to the rhino population, saying a blind rhino is a dead rhino and with so few animals, saving every rhino is essential, Angi Lacinak said.
- Using reward-based desensitization, trainers coaxed Thuza into a chute, desensitized him to touch and water, and put eye drops in his eyes within about a week while training anti-poacher scouts and guards.
- Local guards are now administering the medication daily, consistently protecting Thuza's eyesight, and conservationists say the rhinos are thriving and confident this solved the problem.
- As a pilot project, the effort aims to bolster rhino conservation across Africa, supporting reintroductions outside Hwange National Park where southern white rhinos face poaching and habitat loss.
35 Articles
35 Articles
‘Ridiculous’ plan developed at Florida zoo saves wild rhino’s eyesight
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Corralling a wild rhinoceros into a small chute to give it eyedrops might seem like a crazy plan. But if it’s crazy and it works, then it’s not crazy. Animal behaviorists partnering with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida traveled to Africa in August to help an endangered white rhino with a life-threatening, parasitic eye infection. Daniel Terblanche, a security manager with Imvelo Safari Lodges, sa…
Animal behavioralists saved a rhino with bleeding eyes by giving it eye drops, in a "ridiculous idea" gone right
Corralling a wild rhinoceros into a small chute to give it eyedrops might seem like a crazy plan. But if it’s crazy and it works, then it’s not crazy. Animal behaviorists partnering with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida traveled to Africa in August to help an endangered white rhino with a life-threatening, parasitic eye infection. Daniel Terblanche, a security manager with Imvelo Safari Lodges, said no one in Zimbabwe would h…
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LancasterOnlineBy CODY JACKSON and DAVID FISCHER WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, USA (AP) — Experts devised an ingenious plan to save a dying rhinoceros in Africa: Confine it to a narrow corridor and accustom it to human contact so they could administer eye drops. Animal behavior specialists working with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida traveled to Africa in August to help an endangered white rhinoceros with a life-threatening parasitic eye infec…
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