More than 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers last year in South Africa, home to three-quarters of the world’s rhino population. Calves are often left behind when their mothers are killed.
STERKRIVIER, South Africa — The cry of the orphaned baby rhino, left alone when its mother has been slaughtered by poachers, is a heart-tugging sound somewhere between a dolphin’s song and a kitten’s mew.
The lucky ones, rescued and taken to South Africa’s Rhino Orphanage, call out for the milk that’s fed to them by hand three times a day. Older orphans squeak excitedly when caregiver Jamie Traynor and the other staff feed them buckets of dry food.