Coronavirus keeps Kanchi the rhino on the shelf
A lonely rhinoceros at a Bangladesh zoo is looking for new love after losing her partner seven years ago, but coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions are hampering her keeper’s attempts to play matchmaker.
Kanchi, a star attraction at the Bangladesh National Zoo, is at her most fertile age.
But since the death of her male partner in 2014, she has been living on her own in her muddy pen in the northern suburb of the capital.
Kanchi’s malaise has become increasingly apparent to the more than two million people who visit the Dhaka attraction every year.
Kanchi refuses food and often snubs her carer, Farid
Mia, who hugs the rhino and scratches her neck and shoulders.
The one-tonne vegetarian beast is served six kilograms of rice bran and 1kg of chickpeas each day.
“Her mood swings frequently,” Mr Mia said. “Sometimes, she does not respond to my calls.
“It is mainly because she has grown up alone all these years.
“I tell her that we will soon find her a male partner.
“But she is restless. She needs a partner desperately.”
Abdul Latif, curator of the zoo, said the coronavirus pandemic had blocked recent efforts to bring in a male rhino from Africa.
“We know she feels lonely and we are trying our best to buy a suitable partner,” he said.
While Kanchi waits for the perfect match she ambles around her pen and wallows in her mud spa.
She also basks lazily in the sun, ignoring the multitudes who come to see the 3,000 animals at the zoo.