On the 14th January 2020 we got a call to say that a 7-8 month old white rhino female calf was on its way to the facility. We quickly began setting up to welcome the new arrival, anxious to see what condition she would be in as we didn’t know her story yet. Upon arrival the calf was very small for her age but we soon came to realise that she had a lot of fight in her.

We were told that the night before a white rhino cow with a calf was seen fighting with an elephant and the next morning the cow was found dead and the calf was spotted drinking at a nearby water hole. A necropsy was done on the adult and it was discovered that she had passed due to septicaemia from an old wound. We then realised the small size of the calf was most likely due to the mother producing less and less milk as she got weaker and weaker.

The calf took over a month to accept milk but luckily she took to eating grass straight away. She also immediately showed interest in the other rhino oprhans at the facility and wanted to be with them rather humans. We decided to name her Zimisele (Zimi for short) which means determined in Zulu. Zimi settled in beautifully with the rest of the rhinos and was release along with Khula and Bhanoyi in November 2021. We follow up on her regularly and she has been adjusting well to her new life in the wild.

ADOPT ZIMISELE