A female rhino drowned at a zoo in the Netherlands after an attempt to introduce her to a new mate went tragically wrong, the zoo said in a statement on Friday.
Elena (the rhino) was “startled” by the arrival of a male white rhino, named Limpopo, at the Wildlands zoo in the eastern city of Emmen near the German border.
After a chase, the exhausted female rhino slipped into a waterhole where she drowned, at which point the zookeepers lured the male away from her. “Unfortunately, this help came too late for Elena and she had already drowned,” the zoo said in a statement.
Limpopo had arrived at the park in early September from another Dutch zoo where he sired three offspring as part of a European breeding program. The male and the Wildlands zoo’s two female rhinos, Elena and Zahra, started getting to know each other. The “most exciting” part, according to the zoo, was planned for Thursday morning when Limpopo was allowed into the area where the females where grazing.
“From that moment on it became restless: both women were startled by the male and instead of putting him in his place together, they both ran off. As a result, Limpopo gave chase. He seemed particularly focused on Elena, because she was the closest to him. Both animals appeared exhausted after 15 minutes, and Elena slipped into a shallow pool of water, landed on her side, and was unable to get up.” the zoo said.
Caretakers were unable to stop her from drowning.
The zoo said that such an introduction “often requires intervention, but never before has one been fatal”.
Sources: MSN
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