On 12 February, the first two animals were caught: a cow believed to be approximately 30 years old and her approximately nine-month old calf. The cow had an ear notch in her left ear, and was believed to have been one of the animals introduced from Natal's Umfolozi Game Reserve. These two animals were transported in separate crates to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe, where they were released together into holding boma number one (see Figure), 22 hours post-capture. They were from a group of three originally spotted from the air. The third animal, an approximately 30 year-old bull (also with an ear notch and a hole from an ear tag in his right ear), was captured on 15 February in the same general area. The bull was released into his own holding boma, number two, at the Sanctuary 14 hours later. The final animal to be caught was a three to four-year old bull. He was found on his own, approximately 20 km from where the other animals were caught. At the time of capture, this animal had three bullet wounds estimated to be approximately seven to ten days old. [This subadult male died on 5 March 1993.
Between 1967 and 1982, a total of 94 white rhinos were reintroduced from Natal into protected areas of northern Botswana (Hitchins, 1992). At least 12 white rhinos were known to have been poached in northern Botswana since October 1992. In February 1993 the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks asked the Natal Parks Board Rhino Capture Team to assist them in the capture of whatever remaining rhino could be located in northern Botswana for translocation to a privately developed sanctuary in east-central Botswana. The heavy poaching pressure near Botswana's northern and eastern international borders, combined with the sighting of only seven white rhinos on an aerial survey in September/October 1992 (Hitchins, 1992), prompted the rhino rescue operation. On 12 February, the first two animals were caught: a cow believed to be approximately 30 years old and her approximately nine-month old calf. The cow had an ear notch in her left ear, and was believed to have been one of the animals introduced from Natal's Umfolozi Game Reserve. These two animals were transported in separate crates to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe, where they were released together into holding boma number one (see Figure), 22 hours post-capture. They were from a group of three originally spotted from the air. The third animal, an approximately 30 year-old bull (also with an ear notch and a hole from an ear tag in his right ear), was captured on 15 February in the same general area. The bull was released into his own holding boma, number two, at the Sanctuary 14 hours later. The final animal to be caught was a three to four-year old bull. He was found on his own, approximately 20 km from where the other animals were caught. At the time of capture, this animal had three bullet wounds estimated to be approximately seven to ten days old. It should be noted that ground surveillance in the area where the young bull was captured revealed that he had been travelling in a group with at least two other animals. A week before the capture operation began, an adult cow and a female calf were found to have been poached in the area. Combining the spoor findings and the estimated age of this animal's bullet wounds, it seems quite likely that the poached animals were the young bull's mother and younger sibling.
By the early 1900's the population of southem white rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum simum. was wiped out everywhere except in Natal, primarily because of human predation and competition for resources (Estes, 1991). Desiccating climatic changes may have also played a role (Hitchins, 1992).
Post-capture loss of appetite is potentially a life-threatening problem for free ranging white rhinos put into bomas, especially older bulls, with animals often not feeding for the first seven to ten days (or longer) post-capture (Rogers, 1993). Ideally, bomas should be situated so that anorectic animals can be released back into the field if no evidence of feeding is seen within this period. Such animals often start grazing almost immediately after they are out of the boma. In the case of this project, security concerns precluded building holding facilities in actual rhino habitat in northern Botswana. In addition, the Khama Rhino Sanctuary was still in the process of trying to raise funds for a perimeter fence, so the only option for release from a boma would be to allow the animal into a slightly larger paddock (refer to Figure). Note that paddock facilities were not utilised for the period covered by this report.
Khama Reserve, Botswana. The Sanctuary bomas, with walls two metres in height, are constructed of 15-22cm diameter tanelite-treated poles, spaced approximately 15em apart. All bomas have water troughs which are kept full, clay-lined wallowing points, as well as appropriate natural and artificial shade. Paddocks are comprised of five strands of 25cm diameter steel mining cable (spaced from the ground at 1 Ocm, 30cm, 30cm, 40cm, and 40cm) strung through steel railway tracks spaced every 20m. Each three metre long rail is sunk one metre into concrete. The initial plan included 19 seven to ten centimetre diameter droppers spaced evenly between every two railway lines in the paddock walls. Larger poles were planted into the ground every 5m to strengthen the walls.
