Endangered Baby Rhino’s Mother Butchered In Front of Him…Now Bonded To Keeper

June 10, 2014

They shoot poachers don’t they? Well at least in Africa where rangers are battling an epidemic of poaching that’s sending some of the most endangered animals on earth, racing toward extinction.   This baby rhino watched as his mother was butchered in front of him for her horn.  Little Gertjie is so traumatized he clings to his handler for dear life.  He was found by park rangers lying by his dead mother’s side, crying  in despair.

But there wouldn’t be poachers cutting off endangered rhino horns if there wasn’t a huge demand for it in Asian markets. Shame on countries like China and Vietnam for driving the slaughter. No animal is safe in this world from the greedy hands of the most destructive creature on the planet, MAN!!

Baby Rhino Is Glued to Keeper After Seeing Poachers Kill Mother

By YAZHOU SUN | Good Morning America

An orphaned baby rhino has bonded with its keeper after seeing South African poachers mutilate his mother for her horn.

The animal was brought to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center in South Africa and affectionately named Gretjie by the staff.

The poachers slaughtered his mother at the Kapama Private Game Reserve in South Africa on the night of May 7, according to the center.

By the time rangers were alerted and rushed to the scene, the poachers were gone and the rhino was dead. Next to her body, the rangers found a baby rhino refusing to leave her side, crying inconsolably, Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center officials said.

Since arriving at their sanctuary, however, the thick-skinned creature can be seen clumsily rolling down to the floor and affectionately laying his head on a female staffer’s lap.

Gertjie is adapting well to life at the facility, taking two long walks daily, although it’s a challenge to feed him, the center says. He needs to be fed every three hours. Already weighing over 242 pounds, Gretjie drinks about 1.5 liters (roughly 50 ounces) of “milk” – a mixture of fat-free milk powder, vitamins, glucose and hot water – eight times a day.

Staffers say Gretjie gets grumpy when he is hungry.

The total number of rhino poached in South Africa last year increased to 1,004, or 50 percent, from 2012, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs in the Republic of South Africa.

Rhino horns are in high demand and priced in the traditional Asian medicine market, particularly in China and Vietnam.

http://gma.yahoo.com/baby-rhino-glued-keeper-seeing-poachers-kill-mother-161041139–abc-news-topstories.html

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GERTJIE’S RHINOLOG

Gertjie having a meal and adjusting to a new life without his mother! Baby rhinos nurse up to 18 months.

http://www.picknpay.co.za/picknpay/applications/picknpay/custom/builds/2014/gertjie-rhinolog/rhino.html

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Save The Rhino

Poaching for rhino horn

http://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/threats_to_rhino/poaching_for_traditional_chinese_medicine

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Top Photo: Courtesy ABC Good Morning America

Bottom Photo: Courtesy Pick and Pay

Videos: YouTube  Pick and Pay, HESCCheetahCentre

Posted in:  Poaching, Endangered Species

Tags: endangered baby rhino, Gertjie, poaching destroying rhino, the evils of poaching, rhino horn, Asian market demand, SAVE THE RHINO