Rehab for Baby Rhinos

BOKAKHAT, Assam, India, Nov. 28, 2007 — -- She wanted her mother. That's why she kept returning to the spot where she had last seen her. But her mother was dead, killed by poachers days before.

Still, the baby one-horned rhinoceros continued to revisit the area. Eventually, she was spotted by villagers in a nearby tea plantation where wildlife experts captured her.

At just 16 months, the rhino was too young to survive on her own. She was only about 800 pounds — "only" because that's just a quarter the weight of adult rhinos. Her small size made her susceptible to the dangers of nature, namely tigers and floods. Poachers had no use for the baby who had not yet grown her coveted horn.

But wildlife experts have a use for her: to save the species from extinction.

"In Assam, we have around 2,200 rhinos left in the wild so every species is important," said Anjan Talukdar, a wildlife veterinarian for Wildlife Trust of India. He is leading a team to rehabilitate the baby rhino. "If you think about how many species there are, then every species is important. So we have to take care of each and every individual."

The young rhino resides at the Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, located a few miles from Kaziranga National Park. Ninety percent of the world's population of one-horned rhinos lives in this park with its perfect rhino environment of tall grass and swampland. Kaziranga loses 60 to 70 rhinos each year because of floods, tigers and poachers.

Tourists visiting the park can get within several hundred yards of rhinos while safely perched on the back of elephants. Daily elephant rides leave from the Kaziranga Tourist Complex twice a morning and cost about $20 (plus camera and video fees of $12 and $25). Tour and transportation arrangements can be made for guests staying at the Wild Grass Resort, a handsome lodge situated nearby. The eco-friendly resort's terrific staff will answer any questions about the park or the remote region of Assam.

Asked for more information about this baby rhino, Talukdar revealed she doesn't have a name. That, the doctor says, would domesticate her and she needs to return to the wild. So far, she has not lost her animal-like nature. Despite her size, she is very strong and escaped from her first pen by breaking through a fence.

While her new enclosure was rebuilt, the rhino was looked after by a herd of working elephants. These elephants are usually used to bring humans on guided tours to observe rhinoceroses in their natural habitat. But this time, the elephants were employed to both protect the young rhino from attack and prevent her from running free in the park; they encircled her for three days, keeping a watchful eye.

For now, the baby rhino lives in a small outdoor space with a reinforced bamboo fence. Her neighbors include a bird with an eye infection, a territorial female ape and group of orphaned elephants just three feet tall who cry every two hours for milk, which they are hand-fed with large bottles.

Talukdar is creating a new herd with these baby elephants and hopes to re-release them into the wild, as well.

Rhinos are not social animals so unlike the elephants, she does not have a group of friends to play with.

"She's lonely," said Talukdar. "She wants her mother."

Rhinos live with their mothers until they are about 3 years old. At her age, she should be learning to eat and drink, but instead, she is being taught how to be alone.

Her days seem boring, but that's exactly what she needs, said Talukdar. After her mother was killed, she was in shock so she was placed in a stable, calm environment.

The rehabilitation process costs about $25,000, which is paid for by the U.S.-based not-for-profit International Fund for Animal Welfare. It is a large sum of money in this region of India, where villagers make about a dollar a day. But it's not a large sum to try to save an entire species from extinction.

Talukdar and his team will relocate this baby rhino and three other orphaned rhinos in about two months to nearby Manas National Park. In the 1980s and 1990s, relocation efforts in Manas failed because all of the rhinos were killed by poachers.

But Talukdar will try again; the high density of rhinos in Kaziranga is dangerous because one disease could wipe out nearly the entire species left on the planet.

For that reason, and others, say the park keepers, visitors are not allowed at the Center for Rehabilitation and Conservation. During the day, the animals are nurtured by experts and at night guards watch over them. Even a small mouse — darting across Talukdar's office and spotted by this reporter — is defended.

"I know," he said, nodding his head toward the critter under his bookcase. "But I can't kill it — this is a wildlife center."