|
|
|
|
| |
| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
White Rhino |
 |
|
Included among the animals was a lone white rhino ?Daisy' translocated to the sanctuary about a decade ago. The Dept. of National Parks decided to relocate Daisy to a protected zone for breeding purposes. Mutare residents, in a petition signed by over 5000 people, vetoed the idea. Consequently, 2 male and 2 female white rhino were translocated into the game park between 23 and 27 September 1999.
They were put in boma, but one female broke a partition. Two adult females and a male set off along the perimeter fence, while a subadult male went straight to the Thomson's Vlei area of the park. The three later broke out of the fence and went into the town.
Mike Hitschmann, manager of Cecil Kop, darted 2 females. In the operation, one female died. The male was eventually found around dusk after slipping down a steep slope into a gully blocked by a railway culvert. Efforts to manoevre him to a more accessible area for recapture were unsuccesful. After three nights he moved east, crossing the border into Mozambique. He was eventually captured and loaded in a container. All the activity and running from humans had heavily stressed the animal and he died after a night in the park. The vet said that he died of ?severe capture myopathy' or stress.
Now one female, one subadult male and ?Daisy' remain in Cecil Kop.
|
|
|
Rhino escape at Cecil Kop
File available
details
Original text on this topic: