The troubles of Baixinha, the “pretty” rhino who became world famous, are far from over
Fiona Macleod
Veterinarians say Baixinha, an extremely rare and rather famous East African black rhino being kept at a game farm near Brits, may die of bleeding stomach ulcers before “canned” hunters can get to her.
A professional hunter offered to pay $60 000 (about R680 000) this month to “hunt” the rhino, who is so tame that tourists at the game farm are able to fondle her and she is the star of many movie shoots.
Veterinarians say her fame may be one of the reasons she has collapsed twice since the middle of last year. They diagnose stress and loneliness as probable causes of her deterioration.
“She has no stimulation and is suffering from boredom,” says Paul Meyer, a Pretoria vet who was called in days before Christmas. He says Baixinha appears to be responding well to anti-ulcer treatment.
Other wildlife vets say gastric ulcers are often fatal in rhinos, mainly because they are so difficult to diagnose. Using Baixinha in advertisements and photographic shoots could be exacerbating her condition.
Baixinha (“pretty one”) gained world fame last year after the Mail & Guardian exposed plans to “hunt” her. The fact that she is one of less than 500 of the michaeli species of black rhinos left in the world, and that any “hunt” would obviously be staged, caused international outrage.
Imported to South Africa from a Brazilian zoo 12 years ago, she has spent most of her 26 years alone. Brits wildlife dealer John Brooker originally planned to breed her, but her mate died before the project could get off the ground.
Meyer says getting some company and the life of a real rhino will probably be Baixinha’s cure. But he cautions against making too many radical changes while she is still ill.
A Northern Province wildlife sanctuary, SanWild, has offered to take the lonely rhino in and try to find her suitable companionship. David Laylin, an American businessman who says he put up close to $200 000 (about R2,3-million) for her failed breeding project, has agreed to the move on the understanding that funds will be raised to repay some of his expenses.
But the Northern Province Department of Finance, Environmental Affairs and Tourism has rejected three permit applications by the SanWild sanctuary. Reasons given include avoiding the introduction of exotic species, and not wanting to “create an unmanageable precedent for the future introduction of non-indigenous wild animals into the province”.
“This is a humanitarian initiative,” counters Louise Joubert, owner of SanWild. “Baixinha can’t be compared to an alien organism like a black bass or water hyacinth that can destroy our natural environment and indigenous species.”
Joubert is worried that, if Baixinha stays on at Brooker’s game farm, her life is threatened not only by ulcers, but the very real possibility that he will work out a way to have her “hunted” by someone prepared to pay huge amounts of money to put her head on their wall.
Though she comes from such an endangered species, international conventions do not prevent her from being “hunted” so long as it can be proved that this will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild.
Brooker insisted this week he had no plans to shoot Baixinha. But this flies in the face of a document leaked to the M&G, which shows that in late November last year he was entertaining an offer from a professional hunter prepared to pay up to $60 000 for a “hunt” in January this year.
Dithering by provincial conservation officials has led to the continued exile of Sahib, the mighty African bull elephant adopted by a KwaZulu-Natal community after they read about his plight in a European circus.
KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife finally agreed to allow Sahib to come home in August last year, after Northern Province officials rejected SanWild’s application to give him sanctuary.
The process took more than 10 months, and by the time Sahib got his ticket home his circus owners had undertaken to send him to a captive breeding programme in Eastern Germany.
Though the 20-year-old bull won’t be coming home, he will spend the rest of his life in relative luxury compared to the chains, bullying and abuse he experienced during the past 18 years.
The European Elephant Group says Sahib and four former circus female elephants will be placed together in a 100-acre enclosure, and they will no longer be handled by humans. The two circuses have also agreed to no longer use elephants in their shows.