Rhino being treated at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
The tragedy is that rhino horn is made of keratin, the same stuff that makes up human hair and nails. It has no medicinal value, you might as well eat your fingernails.
–- Mark Jones, Executive Director, Humane Society International
After seeing rhinos in the wild on safari, it was just as incredible to see a few rhinos up close when our safari group returned to Nairobi. For years, I had dreamt of visiting the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust–which helps rehabilitate orphaned elephants and endangered rhinos. The day before my safari group was scheduled to leave Kenya, I learned that the travel agency had scheduled me on a later flight than the rest of the group. Thanks to this unexpected extension of my trip by several hours, I was able to visit the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on my last morning in Kenya to finally meet the baby elephants and endangered rhinos that I’d been longing to see for years.
The rhino pictured above at the Wildlife Trust is getting the best care a rhino could hask for–and by now it’s probably made progress in recovering from all the trauma it experienced in the wild. Stay tuned for more rhino photos, since today is World Rhino Day–and I’ve had memories of these powerful–yet vulnerable–creatures on my mind all day…
