SHAMWARI GAME RESERVE, South Africa — The horns and a large section of the rhino’s face were hacked off by poachers, a horrific injury that exposed flesh and bone. One South African veterinarian treating the mutilated animal was so distressed by the suffering that he had to step away, his eyes glassy with tears.
Then, Dr. Johan Marais, an equine and wildlife surgeon at the University of Pretoria, rejoined the extraordinary effort to save the life of the 4-year-old rhino, now named Hope.
“You just can’t believe that somebody from our own species can do that to an animal,” Marais said of the gaping wound that exposed part of the rhino’s skull and narrowly missed her eyes.
On Monday, a team of veterinarians cleaned and dressed the injury before securing a fiberglass shield on what remained of the rhino’s face with wire stitches and steel screws drilled into the skull. An Associated Press team witnessed the operation on the sedated, 1.8-ton animal in a muddy enclosure on the edge of Shamwari Game Reserve, near the South African city of Port Elizabeth.
Hope’s caregivers seek to rally support for a story of survival amid the escalating poaching in South Africa, which harbors about 20,000 rhinos, roughly 90 percent of the world’s population.
The South African government recorded more than 1,200 poached rhinos last year, reflecting growing demand in parts of Asia, where rhino horn is believed to have medicinal benefits. There is no scientific evidence to support that: The horn is made of keratin, a protein also found in human fingernails.
The rhino being treated Monday was darted by poachers, who severed her horns while she was sedated, fracturing her nasal bone and exposing the sinus cavities and nasal passage. The attack happened in Lombardini, a wildlife park where poachers recently killed several other rhinos.
Discovered alive days later, the rhino was given the name Hope by rescuers. She was moved to the nearby Shamwari reserve, where an initial surgery occurred May 18.
She is “a voice for what the species is going through,” said Dr. William Fowlds, a wildlife veterinarian who was the anesthesiologist Monday.
The task required monitoring the rhino’s temperature and blood pressure and administering drugs that briefly revived the animal, who groggily got to her feet as park staff members swarmed around, steadying her bulk. A rhino can suffer potentially fatal muscle damage if it lies or sits too long in one position because its tremendous weight reduces blood flow.
