Story courtesy of TRO.
It’s been another long night for rhino baby and carers, as Davide continues calling for mom throughout. Our carers have now taken to sleeping outside his room with temperatures dropping to -3 degrees celsius before dawn. We sleep outside his overnight room because Davi tries to bash everything at this stage out of fear. He is already a big boy and can cause severe injuries if he charges.
We have had Davi pass feces yesterday and realized that our little boy is suffering from bleeding, gastric ulcers which develop and progress quickly under conditions of acute and chronic stress. Our vet Dr Pierre Bester is treating accordingly.
Good news however is that Davi started coming to the carers at the barrier, allowing touch and tummy scratches and enabling us to administer his oral medication. He seeks our comfort and that is a major step forward. It gives us a chance to keep offering milk with a bottle and a bowl. He also responds to our version of rhino call (will post a video soon). We will attempt direct contact with Davi this afternoon without a barrier. Fingers crossed.