In South Africa, when rhinos are poached, their children are abandoned too young to survive on their own. That is why there is a center in the province of Limpopo, in the north of the country, to collect them, the time when they become independent and can be released into the reserve.
From our special correspondent in Limpopo,
It is a well-established routine: at certain times, Yolandé van der Merwe must be ready to feed the rhino with milk powder and boiled rice. Because the appetite is fantastic and animals younger than one year can swallow up to 20 liters per day. “Since we opened 8 years ago, we have adapted our recipe. We take skimmed milk in powder form and we add a small percentage of fat to try to recreate as well as possible what their mother would give them, Yolandé van der Merwe explains.
Janie Van Heerden fills the bottles where the name of each orphan is written. “There they are waiting for us, we will call them, because during the day they are left free in their enclosure. A small rhino is approaching. Yolandé presents it to us. This little rhino is Mapimpi. His mother was poached when he was only 5 or 7 days old. He was really very small. He has grown well in one year, now he weighs 400 kg, it has become a small monster, she exclaims.
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Limit human presence
In the center, working with private donations, no tourists, to limit human presence. Because the idea is to release these rhinos, according to Yolandé, when they are four or five years old.
“The females enter their weaning period, so within 6 months we will no longer play with them, we will no longer be in the confinement. It is really necessary to break the human contact, because when they are released, we do not want them to become animals that cause problems, and we do not want them to approach poachers naturally, “Yolandé supports.
A very protected place
The place is very protected, as the rhinos continue to be killed for their horns, which are sold in Asia at unreasonable prices due to their supposed healing virtues. A traffic that still has a bright future, according to Arrie van Deventer, the founder of the orphanage.
► See also: Kenya: for the first time since 1999, no rhinos have been poached in 2020
“It’s a huge deal, it’s like we want to deal with the drug trade. How can this be stopped? There’s too much money at stake. Governments need to get involved and say “stop, it’s over”. It is a war we are waging, and we cannot lose it. And it is not isolated individuals or in small groups that act, it is organized crime “, argues Arrie van Deventer.
About a hundred rhinos have already been released since the center was created.
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