Northern white rhino has abscess
LOS ANGELES: A rare northern white rhinoceros, one of just five left on Earth, is undergoing treatment at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park for what veterinarians believe is an abscess under its skin.
The 41-year-old female rhino, named Nola, was found last week to have a swelling on her right hip that grew larger until veterinarians lanced the site to drain and flush it with saline solution, said spokeswoman Darla Davis.
Samples of tissue and pus taken from the site are being tested, with results expected in a matter of days.
Vets, however, do not believe a tumour exists. In the meantime, Nola has been put on a course of antibiotics as a precaution.
Davis said the entire procedure was performed in the field where Nola was grazing, inside the 26ha exhibit she inhabited inside the sprawling park, without the use of anaesthesia.
Vets were able to approach the animal, lance the swollen area and flush it as they walked along beside her.
“She has such a great relationship with the keepers and vet staff that she would allow them to do things that other rhinos wouldn’t,” said Davis.
Although considered elderly by rhino standards, with a touch of arthritis, Nola has been fairly healthy otherwise, and has exhibited no signs of illness since recovering from a sinus infection in January.
Another, older male northern white rhino at the park died in December, leaving Nola as the only living member of her kind in the western hemisphere.
There are three in a reserve in Kenya and a fourth in a zoo in the Czech Republic, although, like Nola, all are past breeding age, or have reproductive issues. – Reuters