I have witnessed many precious friendships among people. This is about a unique friendship between a stranded baby zebra and a baby rhino who met each other at the verge of loneliness. Though their behavior patterns and personalities are poles apart, they found each other with a whole lot of love and companionship that they really need.
When we hear the word “Stranded” or “Orphan”, we all can picture what the poor animals go through to get proper nourishment. They get distanced from their birth mother due to various circumstances. Either they become a prey or lose their lives due to illnesses.
It is always good to explore the wildlife and their beings. So let us put some light into the story of this precious duo.
The baby rhino and the baby zebra which I mentioned above were rescued from the wild from where they were abandoned by the largest orphan rhino sanctuary in the world which is named as Care for Wild. Their main goal is to protect these precious animals and give them a new leaf of life in comfort.
The sanctuary got hold of the baby zebra back in November 2021, in South Africa’s Kruger National park which is also the largest reserve in Africa. Although the sanctuary nurtures only Rhinos, they did not hesitate to take in this stripy baby as they are dedicated to saving these innocent animals.
This young foal was found stranded and still in the wet grass by the park rangers in charge of the reserve after heavy rainfalls and storms. She was admitted to the Sanctuary’s ICU after determining she was merely some days old and was unable to stand on her legs due to immense weakness.
The sanctuary staff named him “Modjadji” which meant “Rain Queen” a memorable depiction of her past.
She had to go through various medications to get back to her normal life. Fortunately, all staff paid extra attention to making her as normal as she was supposed to be and monitored her improvement.
As the days passed, she got better with her new friend rhino who was named as “Aquazi” who was also giving her company in the ICU.
Shortly after finding Modjadji, the sanctuary got hold of another baby rhino with the umbilical code attached to him which made them have a clear opinion that he was just less than a day old. They left no stone unturned to save this calf and admitted it into the ICU in no time. The calf was extremely weak and had a personalized caretaker to monitor her health, and temperature and supply meals at the same time.
The reason for this calf to get abandoned was indefinite. However, the park rangers helped her to get into Care for Wild so that she would not be prey to savage hyenas.
She was tracked down during a horrendous week where many rhinos were killed by poachers for their horns.
This newly found baby rhino was named as “Daisy” and she won the hearts of everyone at the sanctuary. She gained her strength back slowly and it was nothing more than a miracle.
Aquazi got better with time and said goodbye to the ICU and replaced him with Daisy which made Modjadji befriend her in to time! It was a treat to the eyes to see the love between two completely different animals. Sanctuary staff was amazed to witness Modjadji extending her comfort to Daisy. Her involvement with Daisy has helped a lot as it prevents excess human contact.
Daisy completed 4 months by battling with odds and weaknesses with the help of her caretaker and her stripy best friend.
This mischievous pair of best friends explored the place where milk was prepared. Though they were quiet troublesome, the staff enjoyed their companionship.
Daisy wasn’t quiet going along with the other active and lively rhinos as she was extremely weak. Sanctuary staff believes that one day Daisy will be a part of the little club of other orphaned rhinos and Modjadji will be back in a zebra herd.
It’s quite evident that these precious souls will get separated in the future but their friendship will remain as an essential part of their journey.
Until Daisy hits her 3rd year, she won’t be a part of the rewilding program which gives immense time to make more memories with her.
It is devastating to see that rhinos are getting rescued in the sanctuary due to the horrendous killings done by the poachers.
Poaching is mostly referred to the killing of animals illegally to acquire their valuable assets such as ivory tasks from elephants, tigers for their skin and rhinos for their horns.
As per Care for Wild, due to this illegal racket of acquiring horns, the white rhinos have fallen into “Near threatened” and the black rhino to “Critically endangered”.
Rhino horns are often used as Chinese medicine to treat gout, rheumatism, fever, headaches, vomiting, food poisoning, and typhoid. The demand mostly comes from Asian countries like China and Vietnam. Poachers use sophisticated methods such as using night vision equipment to track rhinos and drug to knock them.
We can help stop poaching by spreading awareness and by signing petitions against such inhuman acts to protect these animals from being victims.
We are greatly thankful for all organizations and sanctuaries who put forth their efforts to protect animals like Modjadji, Aquazy and Daisy.
