If you have a cat or a dog, then you probably know all about the trials and tribulations of attempting to give them their medicine when they're sick. For wildlife experts in Africa, trying to do the same to a wild rhinoceros can prove to be just a little more difficult.
As reported by The Associated Press, a male white rhino in Zimbabwe suffered from a severe parasitic infection, causing his eyes to bleed. If left untreated, the infection would have resulted in permanent blindness and even death.
In an effort to prevent this, Thad and Angi Lacinak, co-founders and animal behaviorists from Precision Behavior, worked to try to save its eyesight. They flew to Africa in August and devised a plan to train Thuza, a male white rhino, to voluntarily accept daily eye drops.
According to Daniel Terblanche, the security manager with Imvelo Safari Lodges, where Thuza was located, the plan to help Thuza was certainly outside the box.
"Believe me, we didn't think of it; it was a completely ridiculous idea to us," Terblanche told the AP. "But without trying all of the things that we could to rectify that situation, we would have been in trouble, I think."
With help from the Lacinaks, they were able to lure Thuza into a tight, manageable space using his favorite foods. They then attempted to desensitize him to human contact before having water, and eventually medicine, squirted onto his face.
"Within about a week, we were actually putting the eye drops strategically in his eyes while he held for it," Angi Lacinak said, per AP. "And by the end of two weeks, we had transferred that skill set to not only Daniel [Terblanche], who was in charge of leading their guards, but to the guards."
Lacinak noted that they had developed the strategy after learning lessons at Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society. Like Thuza, many of the animals at the Palm Beach Zoo are trained to be more cooperative during their care.
Because of the unorthodox care that Thuza received, he was able to recover from his severe infection. Since the white rhino population is still limited, Lacinak emphasized the importance of ensuring that Thuza could cooperate in applying his much-needed eye drops.
"With this few animals in this location in Africa, it was essential that we save all of them," Angi Lacinak said, per AP. "So when they called and said, 'Thuza is going to lose his eye,' a blind rhino is a dead rhino. So no matter what it took, we were going to go over there and try."
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