{"id":172732,"date":"2025-06-10T10:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T10:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/172732\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T10:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T10:45:14","slug":"how-to-move-a-rhino-think-dart-guns-helicopters-and-a-whole-lot-of-patience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/172732\/","title":{"rendered":"How to move a rhino? Think dart guns, helicopters, and a whole lot of patience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NAKURU (Kenya), June 10 \u2014 Barely feeling the tranquiliser shot, the panic-stricken female rhinoceros ran to take shelter in a wooded area, eluding the low-flying helicopter trying to prevent her escape.<\/p>\n

The rhino was supposed to be transferred to another park in Kenya on Saturday, but outsmarted the humans.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, rangers in 4×4 vehicles searched through thickets too dense for the crane truck that was meant to carry her away.<\/p>\n

A decision was quickly made to administer the antidote to the tranquilise to prevent her from collapsing. If she fell the wrong way, she could suffocate.<\/p>\n

The young female will therefore remain where she was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rhino is the worst one to translocate,\u201d said Taru Sheldrick, who was piloting the helicopter in Nakuru National Park in northwest Kenya, an oasis of greenery surrounding a deep blue lake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you dart them, if you don\u2019t have long enough, they\u2019re running straight for thick bush, which is their security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you\u2019re darting a rhino, you have a little bit of fear. Because it\u2019s a species in danger. Every animal is just so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhinos, which can weigh up to two tonnes, were once abundant in sub-Saharan Africa. But hunting by European colonisers and later large-scale poaching pushed them to the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n

Race against time<\/strong><\/p>\n

The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) says there are about 28,000 left in the world, nearly 24,000 in Africa.<\/p>\n

Kenya is home to more than 2,000 of them.<\/p>\n

Rhinos reproduce less efficiently if too many of its kin live in the same location, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which manages the country\u2019s parks.<\/p>\n

Moving them is therefore important, but rhinos are vulnerable to tranquilisers that slow their breathing, increase their body temperature and affect their heart rate, said Dr Dominic Mijele from KWS.<\/p>\n

So it is a race against time as soon as a veterinarian, aboard a helicopter, administers the drug using a dart gun.<\/p>\n

Five to seven minutes after injection, the rhino begins to feel groggy.<\/p>\n

Then it collapses, as AFP observed on Saturday: after the first female retreated into the bush, three other black rhinos were anaesthetised within the span of a few hours in Nakuru.<\/p>\n

A rescue team arrived on-site within two minutes of each shot, moving like a well-oiled machine.<\/p>\n

\"Kenya <\/p>\n

Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers rush to restrain and aid a sedated female black Rhinoceros that has been selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru National Park. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

About a dozen caregivers surrounded the animals, spraying them with water to cool their body temperature, rolling them onto their sides to ensure their respiration was not obstructed, administering oxygen and monitoring their vital signs.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, several other rangers secured the animals with straps threaded through the transport cage and attached to the front bumper of a jeep.<\/p>\n

Fifteen minutes after the rescue team\u2019s arrival, the antidote was administered.<\/p>\n

The animal then jolted to its feet and was promptly guided into a cage, which a crane loaded onto the flatbed of a truck.<\/p>\n

\"Kenya <\/p>\n

Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers in action. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

\u2018Number one\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mijele boasted of Kenya\u2019s unmatched expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are number one in the world. We have done so many rhino translocations successfully,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jochen Zeitz, the owner of the private Segera Reserve, where about 20 rhinos have been relocated in the past two weeks, could not hide his relief after the latest operation.<\/p>\n

On his 200 square kilometres of land, elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards, cheetahs and more roam freely, said the former Puma CEO and current Harley-Davidson executive.<\/p>\n

But the reserve lacked \u201cthis iconic species\u201d which were present up until 60 years ago in Segera, but have since disappeared.<\/p>\n

\"Kenya <\/p>\n

Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers help push a truck stuck in the mud, carrying a female black rhinoceros selected for translocation from Lake Nakuru National Park to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

Welcoming rhinos back is \u201ccompleting the conservation work that we\u2019ve done as a foundation over the last 22 years\u201d since acquiring the land, he told AFP.<\/p>\n

Due to the high risk of poaching for their horns, security measures had to be significantly enhanced with 100-150 new security staff, Zeitz said.<\/p>\n

Late Saturday, a small group witnessed the release of the three rhinos from Nakuru, who had arrived in Segera after a six-hour drive.<\/p>\n

In the dense night darkness, they listened as the metal bars of the transport cages were removed, doors creaked open, and heavy stomping accompanied by guttural growls rang out.<\/p>\n

The rhinos had finally arrived at their new home. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NAKURU (Kenya), June 10 \u2014 Barely feeling the tranquiliser shot, the panic-stricken female rhinoceros ran to take shelter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[10544,71754,70,16,15,1717,24907],"class_list":{"0":"post-172732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-kenya","9":"tag-rhino","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wildlife","14":"tag-wildlife-conservation"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114658667780806309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}