This month members of WWF South Africa contacted us to set up a photo shoot with Dela, our 20 month old black rhino. WWF wanted to be able to take up close pictures of a black rhino, and Dela was the only workable hand raised rhino they found – our girl surely loves to pose for the photos! The pictures taken by the photographer will be sold in a bid to help raise funds for rhino conservation in South Africa.
Even though Dela’s used to being the centre of attention in everyday photo shoots, this was even more exciting for her and we had a few close calls when our 500kg rhino decided to stomp around the set.
Dela has been with us for about 19 months and is about 500kg; she was 1 month old and 40kg when she was found stuck in a mud wallow in Kruger National Park.
Erin Prigmore –the co-star in the picture- is one of our staff members and her original “mommy”. She slept with Dela for 2 months in quarantine, and has hand raised her with the help of our students.
Her future is uncertain with all the poaching but we are keeping her as safe as we can. In the meantime she’ll keep enjoying her freshly cut browse and welcoming all the guests that come to visit us on our tours and at Forest Camp!
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