Rhinos: Kruger National Park is home to 7,000 white rhinoceroses. Some of them are being relocated to help build up herds in other areas. Products from Bayer are assisting in this process. First, however, the animals have to be caught.
Spotted: The search for a rhinoceros begins from a helicopter. From the air, veterinarian Dr. Peter Buss identifies an animal suitable for transport to another park.
The sun rises quickly in Kruger National Park in March. As the first rays chase away the last of the low-lying fog from the green bushveld, Marius Kruger stands wide-legged on Doispane Road in the southwestern corner of this huge national park. He holds a crackling radio to his ear. “I’ll be right there. I’ve already spotted a few of them,” says the voice of veterinarian Dr. Peter Buss, who is searching the surrounding area for white rhinoceroses from a helicopter. Two animals are to be captured today for subsequent transport to other facilities. Buss is the group’s veterinarian, while Kruger is in charge of the team on the ground. Both of them work for the Veterinary Wildlife Services department of the South African National Parks (SANParks). The helicopter buzzes over Kruger, curves away and rapidly disappears again.
However, several dozen of the rhinos managed to survive further south and were relocated to Kruger Park and elsewhere. Today, South Africa’s most famous national park is home to the world’s largest population of white rhinos. An estimated 7,000 of these heavyweight herbivores – the second-largest land mammal after the elephant – roam the nearly 400-kilometer-long park, the majority of them in the southern section. Because of their numbers, the rhinoceroses from Kruger Park have long been used to help build up herds in other locations as well.
This year, Wildlife Services wants to capture some 200 of the pachyderms for sale or auction. Potential buyers include other parks or facilities seeking to establish their own populations. “One animal can bring in as much as 20,000 euros,” says Kruger. This is an important source of income for SANParks, which invests the funds in other activities to preserve biodiversity.
This morning is the first day of the rhino capture season. The team led by Buss and Kruger is off to an early start with the goal of completing their mission before the full heat of the day. From the helicopter, Buss spots some rhinos within a few minutes – a feat that eludes some tourists even after several days in the park. The animals are standing in small groups, tearing the grass from the ground with the rough lips of their wide mouths. With his practiced eye, the veterinarian can quickly tell the age and sex of each animal. Over the radio, he and Kruger decide to capture two approximately six-year-old males.
Buss rapidly picks out the first of the two. With a few clever maneuvers, pilot Charles Thompson separates the animal from the group and drives it near the road where it will be easier for Kruger’s ground team to reach. The helicopter is now flying so low that Buss, who is positioned in the opened door, can easily shoot his tranquilizer dart into the rhino’s hind quarters. The skin is thinner there, allowing the tranquilizer to enter the bloodstream rapidly. The animal pauses a moment then continues running, but his steps grow slower and slower until he stumbles and finally falls just a few meters from Doispane Road – perfectly placed for Kruger and his team.
Before starting their mission, the ground team sprayed their feet, legs, waists and arms with Bayticol Aerosol, a tried-and-tested tick control product from Bayer. Using this spray, Kruger and his colleagues can prevent the ticks that live everywhere in the bushveld from biting their skin and, in the worst case, giving them tick-bite fever.
Together with his colleagues, Kruger now sets to work on the prone colossus weighing just over one and a half tons. Kruger ties a blindfold around the animal’s eyes and a rope sling around the flared skull. Other members of the team set to work checking the heart rate, measuring the length and circumference of the horns, determining the rhino’s body temperature, taking blood and stool samples and monitoring its breathing. Later, this data will provide information about how well the animal is able to withstand stress.
In the meantime, the team has discovered a mass of ticks on the rhino’s right side. SANParks employee Louis Sibuyi grabs a bottle of Bayticol from Bayer Animal Health. The objective is to free the rhino of parasites. “The animal has to be free of ticks when it’s relocated to its new environment,” explains Kruger. This legal requirement is designed to prevent ticks from carrying any dangerous diseases from one area to another.
The helicopter has meanwhile landed and Peter Buss walks over. When the team has finished working on the animal, the veterinarian injects the antidote into the rhino to reverse the tranquilizer. “Be careful when he starts kicking,” calls Kruger to his team members as several of them help the rhinoceros to its feet. The animal struggles to stand, staggers briefly and then, still a little groggy, slowly sets one foot in front of the other as he is pulled forward by the rope. He is guided directly into a white metal cage. While Buss hurries back to the helicopter to begin preparations for capturing the second animal, a crane is lowered over the metal cage and lifts it onto a waiting truck. An hour later, the young animal will find itself in an enclosure where it will remain until it is sold. Here it will be treated again against ticks – this time with a Bayer product that, once applied to the back of the rhino, distributes itself over the animal’s entire body. With this ultimate tick protection, Bayer is helping to establish new rhino populations while at the same time preventing the spread of pathogens.