Vets at US zoo battle to save rare rhino
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AN aging northern white rhinoceros, one of just five left in the world, appeared to be responding to treatment for an unidentified bacterial infection that has veterinarians worried for a subspecies limping toward extinction, a zoo in California, United States said.
Nola, age 40, was showing signs of improvement after San Diego Zoo Safari Park keepers gave her antibiotics to ward off an illness whose symptoms include a runny nose, decreased appetite and lethargy, spokeswoman Darla Davis said on Tuesday.
“She seems to be feeling better today, she has been walking around and eating. The vets think she is responding to antibiotics,” Davis said.
Nola, a 1.8-ton female, is considered a geriatric as individuals from her species generally live 40 to 50 years in captivity, Davis said.
On December 14, a 44-year-old northern white rhino named Angalifu died at the same park, where he was being treated for age-related conditions. His death took the global total of known remaining northern white rhinos to just five.
“Nola had a drainage coming out of her nose,” she said.
“The vets swabbed the mucus, and cytology tests showed bacteria, so they began treating her with antibiotics.”
“She’s such a gentle animal, she lets the keepers work on her,” Davis said.
Northern white rhinos were driven to near extinction by poaching in Africa, as their horns are prized for their supposed medicinal value.
Semen and testicular tissue from Angalifu have been stored in the hope that new reproductive technologies will allow the recovery of the subspecies in the future, the zoo said.
White rhinos are the world’s heaviest land mammals after African and Indian elephants.
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