A rhino will be released back into the wild after heartbreaking images showed it with tears running down its face after poachers attacked.
Touching footage shows Seha, a 4,500-pound Southern White rhino, being trained one day before he gets his first taste of freedom in six years.
He will be transported from a paddock into the wild tomorrow.
The huge moment comes after his horn was brutally hacked off by poachers in South Africa.
They left the rhino for dead in 2016 as he ‘wasn’t worth a bullet to put down’.
But the alarm was raised when police stumbled across the animal two weeks later.
Seha was rescued by wildlife veterinarian Johan Marais, who founded Saving the Survivors which saves animals that have fallen victim to traumatic incidents.
After moving to the Marataba Game Reserve in South Africa, Seha underwent 30 operations and recovered with the aid of three organisations and hundreds of donors.
Celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Lorraine Kelly took to Twitter to share the picture of the crying rhino when it went viral late last year.
Sharing the story on Twitter, Ricky said: ‘Devastating. I go from wanting to cry, to wanting to f***ing batter the c**** who did this.’
The upsetting photo was taken by British director and photographer Simon Needham, 55.
‘When I heard about Saving the Survivors within the community and after hearing what they do I offered my time to photograph the rhino to help promote their need to raise money’, Simon said.
‘Poachers butchered the rhino’s horns and removed parts of the bone in his skull as well.
‘The owners of the game reserve left him for dead for two weeks as he wasn’t worth a bullet to put him down, not without his horns.
‘The police noticed him and called Saving the Survivors to help him.
‘Six years later, Seha is now finally ready to go back into the wild, due to the effort and diligence of Johan Marais.’
This article by Emma Brazell was fist published by Metro on 23 January 2022. Lead Image: Pictures show Seha being trained to go back into the wild (Picture: mediadrumimages.com/@savingthesu).
What you can do
Support ‘Fighting for Wildlife’ by donating as little as $1 – It only takes a minute. Thank you.
Fighting for Wildlife supports approved wildlife conservation organizations, which spend at least 80 percent of the money they raise on actual fieldwork, rather than administration and fundraising. When making a donation you can designate for which type of initiative it should be used – wildlife, oceans, forests or climate.
Leave a Reply