Agony and ecstacy, life and death in war against rhino horn poaching
The two young rhinos fought with every fibre of their being. Their courage and granite determination should be an inspiration to the human race, that life is a gift to every sentient creature
‘Saving the Last Rhinos’, by Grant Fowlds and Graham Spence, is the remarkable story of Fowlds, a conservationist based in the Eastern Cape who has dedicated his life to saving the last rhinos, vividly told with the help of Spence, co-author of the best-selling ‘The Elephant Whisperer’. The book is being launched this month. What follows is an extract from Chapter Nine, titled ‘The Last Stand’
All Big Five game reserves are at the forefront of the rhino wars, but our neighbour Kariega seemed to be in the crosshairs more than most.
Kariega was where the world first got to see the barbaric suffering of a poached rhino in vivid, real-time video horror as Geza lived out his last agonising hours.
Ironically, it is also the scene of one of the most incredible wildlife veterinary triumphs in SA, if not the world. It involved a team in the bush led by my brother William [Fowlds], specialists at Onderstepoort Faculty of Veterinary Science, a laboratory in Ohio, USA, and a Cape Town plastic surgeon.
In March 2012, almost a year after Geza was murdered, poachers darted another three rhinos at Kariega. They then hacked their horns off with machetes, somehow evading around-the-clock security and armed patrols.
One male died that night. But when William was called out the next day, the other two animals, a male and a female, were still breathing.
Both were critical. The female, whose name was Thandi, meaning “love” in Xhosa, looked the worst with a bloody, pulped mess of a face. The male, Themba, which means “trust”, looked marginally better as his face had not been as mutilated. Ominously, however, he was dragging his left back leg. This often happens to a poached rhino as when the killers dart it, the animal falls awkwardly and circulation to the back limbs is cut off by their crushing bodyweight. Gangrene soon sets in.
William was determined to use every shred of knowledge gained from the Geza tragedy to treat the two battered and maimed creatures lying in the veld. He had brought a professional camera team along to document the event, as survivors discovered in time are so rare that film footage is invaluable for future reference. Also, as Geza had shown, a brutal on-the-spot videotape of an animal’s terrible suffering in the bush galvanises a lethargic world far more than any impassioned speeches in air-conditioned halls.
He wanted his team to be as prepared as possible for the gruesome task, but that is an oxymoron. Nothing can prepare anyone for such evil. Everyone, camera crew included, was sick to their souls.
Themba was semi-conscious and initially the team thought he stood the better chance of survival, even though he could not stand properly. Thandi’s wounds made a Halloween mask look like a Barbie doll. Raw flesh was hanging off her face in loose, bloody chunks of meat. William studied her for a moment.
This one we will definitely have to put to sleep, he thought.
The prospects looked grim. However, her legs seemed fine. She had not fallen at an angle like Themba when darted. Perhaps that was a glimmer of hope. If so, it was the only one.
The next few hours were crucial. William and his highly motivated team decided to give the rhinos a reversal drug to wake them fully and see what could be done. The drugs, both sedation and reversal, are extremely potent and only available to veterinary surgeons. The fact that the poachers used the same opiate as vets was a stark indication of the extent of corruption prevalent on the black market. To William’s astonishment, both animals regained full consciousness quickly. Within five minutes they were struggling to stand, which was too soon as William wanted to do more tests.
For anyone with a shred of conscience, watching the pain kick in as a mutilated rhino comes out of a drugged state is distressing in the extreme. William now had to make the same dreadful choice that he had faced with Geza. Should he prolong the agony and try and save the two animals? Or should he humanely end the creatures’ misery right away?
With Geza, he had reluctantly extended the mangled rhino’s life in an attempt to expose the cruel reality of the wildlife wars. He could not save Geza, but the tragedy had touched a massive number of people. Geza’s horrible death at least had some meaning, a raging scream rebuking a world that allowed this to happen.
William considered the two options, both equally awful. Such decisions torment him, as they would any vet. But as they had reached Thandi and Themba less than twelve hours after the attack — much sooner than with Geza maybe, just maybe, this could have a different outcome. No one knew.
William decided to make no immediate decisions. He would see how events played out, minute by ghastly minute, hour by harrowing hour. If Thandi and Themba showed that they wanted to live, he and his team would try to honour their wish.
Thandi and Themba did just that. They showed in spades how precious life was to them. The two young rhinos fought with every fibre of their being. Their courage and granite determination should be an inspiration to the human race, that life is a gift to every sentient creature.
‘Saving the Last Rhinos’, by Grant Fowlds & Graham Spence, is published by Jonathan Ball Publishers