South Africa: In the forest there is an orphanage for rhinos

(ANSA-AFP) - MOKOPANE, 11 JAN - In a lush forest in South Africa, in the province of Limpopo, there is an orphanage thanks to private donations that hosts rhinos left behind by unscrupulous poachers who killed their parents to sell to black market the horns from which keratin is obtained, sold for 90 thousand euros per kilo.

    For 24 hours a day six women, two of them are volunteers, take care of the baby rhinos that arrive at their gate.

Often injured, always traumatized.

Around the property there are lands that have been closed to the public for safety reasons.

    Tourists are not allowed at the orphanage.

There are some exceptions for very few visitors.

The mission is clear: rescue, rehabilitation and release.

The father of the project is Arrie Van Deventer, 67, a former history teacher turned game farmer.

The idea of ​​the orphanage, he says, came to him when in 2011 he found a wounded rhinoceros calf at his hands, who survived the murder of his mother and brothers and realized that for the little one there were no suitable structures to welcome him, if not the tourist ones .

Hence the decision to build the orphanage.

    The guests today are mostly small white rhinoceros, but also some black specimens, endangered species.

"We are their mothers," says Yolande Van Der Merwe, 38, manager of the reception team.

"We sleep next to them to provide warmth and comfort, because when they are left alone the little ones scream and their cries are high-pitched, like the sounds of the dolphin."

Taking care of the little ones is very demanding.

They wait impatiently for large bottles with a mixture of milk and boiled rice that are given to them every few hours.

In the first year of life, rhinoceros calves gain more than 350 kg in weight.

    Once rehabilitation is complete, the rhino are released to a nearby reserve where an environmentalist keeps the orphanage updated on their progress.

(ANSA-AFP).