Orphaned Rhino Baby Gertjie Getting Better After Mother's Death

In South Africa at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre a baby rhino has been slowly recovering from the brutal death of his mother by poachers. The rhino is being cared for by the good people at the center and is slowly moving past the trauma of his mother's death.

On May 7th the baby rhino, now being called Gertjie, was discovered next to his mother's corpse. The caretakers said that they had found the 3 month old rhino laying next to its mother's corpse crying inconsoluably. Gertjie refused to leave his mother's side when the caretakers tried to bring him back to the center to take care of him. In the end they sedated him and have been taking care of him ever since.

Thanks to the trauma caused by this event in his life Gertjie refuses to sleep on his own. Over the past month the staff have been using a surrogate mother, a sheep named Skaap, to help the baby sleep. They have also taken shifts sleeping outside his pen so that they would be able to feed him every three hours. At this time the center is asking for donations so that they will be able to continue feeding the animal, since baby rhino's are not weaned off their mother's milk until about a year after they are born. Once Gertjie is old enough, and able to live on his own, he will be introduced to a wildlife reserve.

In 2010 the number of rhinos being poached in South Africa sat around 333. In a poll taken last year the number was well into the 900's. Rhinos are haunted mostly for their horns, though it is not unheard of for their feet and other parts of their bodies being taken as well. On reserves that claim to keep these animals safe poachers are able to sneak in, kill or drug the rhino, and then get away with their prize. Many conservationist are concerned that current methods are not capable of keeping up with poachers and are greatly fearful for the rhino's future.

For now baby Gertjie will be safe to grow into an adult, but once he is released into the reserve the question remains whether or not he will be protected from the poachers.