Injured rhino at iMfolozi

[Niel]

It is now believed that injuries to a white rhino that were initially thought to have been inflicted during a fight with a male rhino at the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve, in Zululand, at the weekend could have been caused by a speeding vehicle.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife veterinarian Dave Cooper was called in after a rhino attacked a vehicle, puncturing a tyre with its horn.

The incident occurred on the road towards Mpila Camp, just past the Umbondwe picnic site. While waiting for the vet to arrive, park rangers kept other vehicles away from the enraged animal, which turned out to be a female.
Left in peace, the rhino slowly and painfully made its way to a spot across the road where it lay down.

The animal was sedated and examined by Cooper, who found wounds on its left side and leg to be superficial abrasions. Although it had no broken bones, it was suffering from severe bruising to its hind leg. He said the injury had occurred either earlier in the morning or late the previous evening.

"She is an old animal and not in too good condition, so she may have done something silly and fallen or she may have been hit by a vehicle," he said.

Cooper added that although there was still the odd incident between elephant and rhino, purely because of the large number of these animals in the park, the rhino was definitely not "rolled by an elephant".

Conservation manager Dave Robertson said rangers had been asked to look out for signs that a vehicle had hit the animal, such as broken glass. The vehicle the rhino had attacked had shown no evidence of having hit the animal, he added.

Meanwhile, commenting on reports that people were using the reserve as a short cut between Ulundi and Mtubatuba, Robertson said an increased number of businessmen were using the route as a thoroughfare. The problem was that they were inclined to exceed the speed limit.

"The minimum distance between the two gates (Cengeni at Ulundi and Nyalazi at Mtubatuba) is 42km and if they travel through in less than an hour, then they are exceeding the park's speed limit of 40km/h," said Robertson.

"If we do find people repeatedly exceeding the speed limit in the park, they will be banned,"

[2.8 d/cab SFA]

:? i hope it wasn't a fast car

[Zandyl]

Whilst on holiday this past December in KNP & driving to the speed limit of 50 KPH, i was overtaken by a tour bus.
I went up to 80 KPH & it still pulled out from me, must have been doing 100 KPH

Saw this in the Beeld today
http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika ... 86,00.html

I don't think a broken propshaft would cause that at 50 KPH
IMHO, i think he was speeding

[Niel]

Yes, I have some speeding as well in KNP, Etosia and Kalgadi. Wonder what they are thinking or rather not thinking