RHINO THAT SURVIVED POACHING GIVES BIRTH
Thandi the rhinoceros was left for dead by poachers nearly three years ago, meant to be among the 600 rhino killed in South Africa in 2012. She beat the odds, and after a slow recovery, has given birth to a healthy calf, game reserve managers announced Wednesday. The calf's birth on Tuesday morning is being celebrated as the rhino population is under pressure from poaching.
As soon as the calf could walk, Thandi led the newborn deeper into a now cordoned off area of the Kariega game reserve in the Eastern Cape province, said representative Bronwen d'Oliveira. It took Thandi a long time to trust humans again after poachers hacked off her horn and left her to bleed to death along with two male rhinos in March 2012, said d'Oliveira. One of the males died immediately, while the other only survived for several weeks, she said.
"She was found in a pool of her own blood," she told the Associated Press. Thandi, whose name means "to be loved" in the isiXhosa language, went through nearly three years of recovery, which included four skin graft procedures, said d'Oliveira.
Now, the mother and calf are doing well, according to the rhino's veterinarian William Fowlds, who observed the pair from a short distance, the game reserve said in a statement. The calf has not yet been named and its sex is still unknown.
This handout photo from the Kariega Game Reserve taken Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015