Rhino Release

Prompt 4: Social Skills

It was a misty morning at the Sanctuary. The birds were mostly quiet in their aviarys, excepting of course the aquatics who were all too happy to be out in the brisk morning air foraging algae, tadpoles and crumbles. The parrots of the sanctuary were a little less excited about the mist and were staying under the cover of their enclosures, waiting for the sun to burn off the morning mist.

The Rhinos didnt seem to care at all as they sauntered out into the paddock. Little did they know that today they were going to have a special guest. It had taken the Sanctuary some doing, no sanctuary was going to let their Northern White Rhino go traipsing off to other refuges willy nilly after all. But since the other sanctuary owed them a favor and their rhino also needed the socialization, the meeting had been finalized and the other rhino had already arrived some hours ago. The young female rhino had been situated comfortably into a smaller pen within the paddock where she was waiting out the rest of the morning in her large traveling crate filled with straw.

As the handlers watched from the sidelines, the two sanctuary rhinos finally realized there was a stranger in their paddock and approached the pen curiously. The young female noticed their approach and got up to greet them at the fence. 

The handlers held their breath, would their rhinos be amicable to another of their kind? Or would they become agitated? 

After a few neutral grumbles and some tail swishing, the handlers now had a something new to worry about, the female was now pushing down the fence to join her new friends. It seemed socialization was a success.

WC 289

Prompt 5: The Release

The day had dawned clear and bright. Handlers had scurried back and forth all morning ensuring everything was in its place. The rhinos had been sedated and loaded into crates, the crates were then moved to trucks, which were then driven to a cargo plane, and thereafter loaded carefully. All the while a few invited reporters had been allowed to photograph the proceedings. Only one reporter had been allowed on the plane however, they were doing a feature for National Geographic and the Sanctuary had been eager to have them along.

Now after a long journey and alot of paperwork, they had made it to Garamba National Park. The park officials had been awaiting their arrival with anticipation and eagerly welcomed them as they drove into the park.

Excitement filled the air as the convoy drove through the park. They would be driving to a special enclosure that had been set up for the rhinos so they could be monitored for a short time before being released. As they drove they saw giraffes in the distance, could those be the Kordofan giraffe? To the right look! A herd of bongos springing through the tall grass!

And finally they made it to the "boma," the enclosure for the rhinos. The crates were offloaded by a crane which had been waiting for their arrival and carefully settled down. The park officials quickly opened the crates and their rhino specialist got to work checking them over, better safe than sorry where the rhinos were concerned. Once the vet was done, they all stepped back and now all there was to do was wait for the rhinos to wake up.

No one minded the wait, it was an opportunity to talk about conservation and how the parks other projects were coming along.

And finally the rhinos woke up and began ambling around their enclosure.

For two weeks the rhinos were closely monitored, ensuring they acclimated well to the new environment. And finally it was the day of the release! A small group from the Sanctuary's staff had been invited back as well as the reporter from National Geographic to watch as the rhinos were released into their natural habitat. Slowly but surely the rhinos wandered out into the world, following instinctively ancient paths forged by their ancestors towards their new life.

WC 387