Saving Ammon

Rhino Rescue Day

We started the Rhino rescue before Sunrise. Our little group gathered on an old runway and waited for the helicopter to arrive.  The veterinarian arrived and spent about a half hour explaining the process of locating and tranquilizing the Rhino.

 He explained the importance of working quickly and efficiently once the Rhino was darted. The vet delegated about 10 assignments to our group. Once the helicopter arrived, they circled around until they located a mother Rhino and a smaller Rhino who was about 2 or 3 years old. The pilot and his spotter were able to determine that the mother had previously been tagged, so the younger Rhino was the target. Once they spotted the Rhino the helicopter came back to where we were located and touched down long enough for the doctor to jump in. The helicopter guided the mother and young Rhino into the clearing where we all waiting for the cue to "GO". Once the young Rhino went down, the helicopter guided the mother far enough away so that we could  quickly jump into action. It was important that we didn't keep the young rhino down too long, or allow him to overheat.  The tranquilizer took effect after 6 or 7 minutes. I was assigned to be one of the first ones out of the truck to place rolled up socks in the Rhinos ears. Elder Kirschbaum placed a towel over his eyes and Elder Lee monitored his respirations. All the other men were asked to quickly jump down from the open air vehicles to help roll the Rhino off of his side.

This took quite a bit of effort. Then we went to work. Elder Davie was responsible for drilling the hole in the Rhinos horn to insert the microchip. The vet placed the chip and then filled the hole. One of the women was asked to record all the vital information that the vet relayed to her. The next task was placing the notches in his ears. Sister Kirchbaum was given this assignment. Our Rhino (who we named Ammon), was the 211th rhino chipped. The notches represented the number 211. Sister Jones was assigned to take some hair from his Ammon's tail for a DNA sample. Someone else took the shavings from his horn as well for a DNA sample. We then administered an antibiotic and Brother Donnelly asked the vet if I could be given this assignment because he knew I was a nurse. Let me just say, I was thrilled to have Ammon for a patient. I stayed close to Elder Lee as he monitored the young Rhinos respirations. At one point his respirations were a bit shallow, so he was given another drug through a catheter in his ear to wake him up just a bit.  Just before we woke Ammon Sister Nielsen put some gel in his eyes to keep them from drying out.

The whole procedure took about 25 minutes. When we administered the antidote everyone was told to quickly get back into the vehicles. We all sat quietly as we watched the young rhino wake up. He stood still for a moment while his legs wobbled and then he slowly ran off.  We sat in complete awe as we listened to the gentle cries that came from this little guy as he searched for his mother. We were later told by the helicopter pilot that the mother was very persistent and kept trying to return to her young.

The past 5 days in Kruger Park really made me appreciate what a great gift these wonderful creatures are to us. I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful to be here in this beautiful county.