Herding a wild rhinoceros into a narrow chute to administer eye drops might sound like an absurd plan. But if something’s absurd and effective, then it’s not truly absurd.
Animal behaviorists collaborating with the in Florida journeyed to Africa in August to assist an endangered white rhino suffering from a life-threatening parasitic eye infection.
Daniel Terblanche, a security manager affiliated with , stated that no one in Zimbabwe would have thought of this plan.
“Trust me, we never would’ve thought of it—it was a totally ridiculous concept to us,” Terblanche remarked. “But without trying every possible measure to fix that situation, I believe we would’ve been in a difficult spot.”
On the outskirts of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, the , backed by Imvelo Safari Lodges, works with local communities to reintroduce southern white rhinos to communal lands for the first time in the nation’s history.
Palm Beach Zoo CEO and President Margo McKnight was touring the region last year when Imvelo Safari Lodges’ managing director Mark Butcher informed her that a health crisis involving a male rhino named Thuza could put the program’s future at risk.
“This rhino’s eyes were bleeding, and he was rubbing them,” Butcher shared. “I was worried he might lose his eyesight—and this is part of a pilot project with an incredible vision for conservation’s future across Africa.”
Thad and Angi Lacinak, founders of , traveled to Zimbabwe to collaborate with anti-poaching scouts. They crafted a plan using insights gained at Palm Beach Zoo, where animals are trained to voluntarily participate in their own care.
“Given the small number of these animals in this African location, saving every one was critical,” Angi Lacinak explained. “So when they called to say Thuza might lose his eye—a blind rhino is a dead rhino—we knew we’d go there and try, no matter what it took.”
The plan was to lure Thuza into a confined space with his favorite foods, then desensitize him to humans touching his face and squirting water on it.
“Within about a week, we were successfully applying eye drops to his eyes in a targeted way while he stayed still,” Lacinak noted. “By the end of two weeks, we’d passed this skill set to not just Daniel—who led their guard team—but also to the guards themselves.”
Southern white rhinos are classified as near threatened, with approximately 16,000 individuals living in the wild. Poaching and habitat loss remain major threats. Though Thuza and other rhinos face ongoing challenges in the wild, at least Thuza’s eyes have been protected.
“They’re consistently giving him the medication in his eyes every day,” Lacinak said. “The rhinos are thriving now, and everyone involved is extremely confident this problem has been solved.”