Braam Malherbe

CHANGE and CHOICE

Ronel — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:16:56 +0000

My brother, Peter, age 47, died tragically on the 30th April. This has been a tough blow for me and my family for a number of reasons. We lost another brother, Marius, at the young age of 41 some years ago. Marius died from a drug overdose and Peter unfortunately, also died from substance abuse. He had apparently fallen and taken a blow to the back of his head. Sadly, he was left outside a friend’s home, while they were there and aware of his state, for over 24 hours and not taken to a hospital. According to the forensic pathologist, had he received medical attention earlier, he would probably have lived. If he had, perhaps it would have served as a ‘wake-up’ call and turned his life on a path of recovery. This is indeed what happened to my last remaining brother and Peter’s twin, Mark. He had also become a drug addict and almost lost his life to drugs. He ended up in a psychiatric ward and is fortunate to be alive. He decided to enter a rehab centre where he has lived ‘clean’ from all addictive substances for over 5 years. He has blossomed into an incredibly talented artist and has fallen in love with a special lady, as well as with God.

In my eulogy at Peter’s memorial service I spoke of the importance and power of ‘change’ and ‘choice’. It was Charles Darwin who said, “It is not the strongest that survives, nor the most intelligent, it is the one who embraces change.” All too often in our lives we blame externally. We find reason for our own problems in other people, institutions or organisations. I have found, from personal experience, that when I turn my attention to the problem inwards, I am invariably presented with solutions that involve personal change. The power to change is based on the knowledge I gain and the perceived rewards I am then incentivised by. In Nature, species don’t necessarily choose to change but are more driven to change in order to survive. This change, over decades and more often millennia, result in evolution. We, as human beings, have fallen into a dangerous trap where we avoid change in a desperate attempt to maintain our comfort zones. When we, with knowledge and understanding, embrace change as a process of personal growth, we become amazed at our inherent power. For me, it is this power that draws me closer to God.

I was asked, after completing the Great Wall of China expedition in 2006, where I spent a lot of time in the ‘wilderness’ of the Gobi Desert, if I believed in ‘sin’. I answered “if there is such a thing, for me it is mediocrity, living a compromised existence, a half-life.” I believe, in order to live ones fullest potential requires commitment to change and the ability to dream big. And then of course, we must choose to act!

I will not see Peter’s tragedy be in vain. I will show people that through death comes life. Indeed, I believe I already have! During the eulogy I asked friends and family to look inside themselves and ask firstly, “what is one thing I can do to improve my life?” and secondly, “what is one thing I can do to improve someone else’s life, or life on our planet Earth?” You see, I firmly believe that the greatest gift any of us have is the gift of ‘giving’. This simple truth is shown to us daily through Nature…every species gives to one or more other species, and, in so doing, ensure their own survival. A bee and a flower is a simple example of this. Life is sustained because of the principal of ‘connected sharing’.

So I ask you humbly, to consider the two questions I asked the mourners at my brother’s funeral, then to please act on them. If we all Do One Thing (DOT), we begin fix our tired Earth.

Kariega update Tuesday 22h30 4th April

Ronel — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:35:12 +0000

Today is day 33. The last time we worked on Thandi was 23 days ago and I was
very apprehensive at what we might find under the gruesome exterior of her
facial injuries. The Kariega team for today’s procedure consisted of 25
individuals on-site but with so many thousands willing her to get well and
anxious for news of her progress, we feel like only one small component of
this rhino’s support network. Thandi’s Team.

As usual, we gathered before the procedure to go through the plan. An
addition to the team today was Dr Gerhard Steenkamp who is a veterinary
surgeon from Onderstepoort. Dr Steenkamp, and his colleagues will be
bringing specialised skills and experience into Thandi’s continuing support
plan and his role today was to assess her facial injuries and begin applying
whatever surgical support the growing team of surgeons believe she may
require.

We worked with her for almost an hour today which was longer than we had
planned for. She was amazing once again, surprising us with her resilience
and tenacity having been through such a horrific experience and showing her
inner strength even at this stage of her recovery. Not once was I concerned
about her anaesthetic, her blood pressure and oxygen levels were good
throughout and this gave us the platform Dr Steenkamp needed to carry out
his surgical activities.

The first stage in her facial treatment today involved removing as much dead
tissue as possible. Most of what is not viable consists of bone which has
been severely exposed and separated from its blood supply. If we allow any
of this dead bone tissue to remain, it could end up as a decomposing
fragment of tissue inside a mass of healing flesh and hence a long term
source of infection. Extensive time was spent literally breaking off pieces
of bone until bleeding indicated viable tissue. The maggots are back and
some of the deep recesses of her mutilated skull where inhabited by them and
needed to be removed. Many other bone cavities contained compacted mud which
had dried into solid plugs which impede healing and so had to be scooped out
and flushed. Tragically, there are still panga marks deep into her skull
bones creating fissure lines and crevices which required attention.

Once as much dead tissue had been removed as possible, we could get a clear
picture of her healing progress. The outside extremities of the area are
clean and the recovering skin margin is creeping in slowly from the
peripheries one millimetre at a time. There are some good banks of new
tissue often referred to as granulation tissue which has encroached into
many of the deep trenches left by the pangas between the bone structures and
the skin. She still has significant areas of exposed bone towards the middle
of the wound but most surprising of all has been the amount of new tissue
which has been created inside the exposed sinuses. So there is real
measurable progress visable without any major stumbling blocks apparent at
this stage.

These are still early days yet as we still have a long way to go but what we
witnessed today was very encouraging. At this stage we are not sure how much
surgical assistance she may require but many of the building blocks of
re-construction are appearing, which for now is as much as we can expect.

Every time we work with her face I am both appalled by the extent of her
wounds, and encouraged by the determination that this body possesses to
recover. In spite of the destruction of her face to such a degree that 33
days later she still has a mutilated crater which is 37 cm long and 19 cm
wide. Regardless of the long hours she spent struggling on her side, in
shock and agony, she is determined to survive. Under the constant threat of
complications from maggots, infection and rotting bone fragments, Thandi has
made her choice, this girl wants to live and she wants to live well. In
spite of everything she has gone through, this living, breathing, feeling
animal just keeps marching down her road towards recovery.

What an inspiration, this one rhino called Thandiswa, is proving to be. What
a beacon of hope she is providing for us when there are so many horrendous
stories and statistics drawing dark clouds over the future of this species.
What and example of how we need to FACE-UP to the realities of poaching,
stop talking and start doing.

Thandi, you are a true champion of the cause. You are beautiful.

In honour of what this amazing rhino is teaching us, in admiration of her
courage to fight against indescribable odds, in amazement of the amount of
awareness she generates for her kind and out of respect for the example she
is to us, I would like to make a very personal request to every single
person who reads this. This request is not from Kariega Game Reserve, this
request is from me, Dr Will Fowlds.

“Please make a choice today to contribute to the care of SURVIVORS of rhino
poaching, like Thandi, across our country. This request is small and this
request is simple. I am asking you to donate the equivalent of the average
price of one injection, at least. On an average treatment day, Thandi will
get twenty-two medication injections at an average price of R 52-00. My
request is for at least one injection of R 50-00.”

The value of an “injection” excludes professional and labour fees, travel
and vehicle costs, helicopter expenses and other medications and anaesthetic
costs which are by far the bigger costs. I will be explaining in detail in
the following update how to go about this and how we intend managing and
using this fund. But, today you get to choose to do something active for
rhino like Thandi (meaning LOVE), today is your day to show you LOVE rhino,
today is your day to be an active part of the “Thandi Team”, today is your
day to give an INJECTION which will make a difference: Please support the
“Thandi Rhino Treatment Fund” initiative. You can start now by drawing up
your injections. Will Fowlds

Kariega update Tuesday 27 March 11pm

Ronel — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:32:57 +0000

As we direct all our energy into the care of Thandi, the tributes to Themba and the wonderful Kariega team just pour in. We are completely overwhelmed by the comments we have received and I must hasten to add here how important it is to realise that I am just one of many dedicated people who have thrown themselves selflessly at this task. In fact I only spend a fraction of my time on Kariega compared to the rest of the team. Most of what I do for these rhino is on the phone and behind a laptop, something all of you are able to do too.

Kariega rangers sent me fresh images of Thandi today which are packed with information that is very valuable in our planning for the next phase of treatment. We are processing the information we have learned from Themba, including blood samples which were taken less than 24 hours before he died as this tells us so much about what we need to be modifying in Thandi’s treatment plan. For example, the extent of muscle damage across the left side of Themba is very likely to have been mirrored in Thandi as she too lay for as long on her left side, possibly taking even more pressure on her ribs as we look back on the video images of day 1. It still amazes me, as I look at her most recent photo. What a walking miracle she is.

Comparative blood tests from Day 9, which give us an idea of acute muscle damage showed that Themba had a reading of 7715 (normal range between 60-1074) as against Thandi who had a reading of 1212. Both of these would have been higher than this in the days leading up to these tests.

Each blood sample taken had 31 different tests processed from it as well as other microscopic evaluations but in spite of this information, combined with observation, visual and photographic interpretations and hands on evaluation when we could, there were gaps in the information required to accurately assess everything. The challenge now is to find additional means to tell us what really goes on under that thick skin so that we can improve the chances of getting survivors back to health or end their suffering confident that they would not have made it even if we tried.

So, in spite of Themba’s passing, we still continue to learn from him as his serum samples have been sent away for electrophoresis (CZE). Prof Reyers is going to continue assisting us with his vast experience in clinical pathology and Themba will be the yard sick against which we measure Thandi’s parameters now that we understand the full extent of his injuries.

Des who is assisting Kariega with social media, posted official stats yesterday, provided by facebook, showing that through this channel alone over 45 000 people have followed the tragedy of Themba and Thandi. What is staggering is that if every one of us who have followed this story, shared it with all our facebook friends, we would potentially reach over 900 000 people. Many people ask me how they can make a difference in this war to save the rhino. My answer is always, awareness comes first, then worry about
the rest.

The story of three precious rhino who enjoyed life side by side in the green grass of paradise. Three of God’s creation who’s bond with one another allowed poachers to butcher them one after the other. Three magnificent rhino with three very different stories. Who among us, will give up just a fraction of our day to expose their story to the world. Even one more minute to post/forward/share or comment in honour of what they have gone through.These three victims have given us new ammunition to use in fighting this war. Ammunition which we choose to use passively, but which will change minds effectively. Our hearts and minds have been impacted by the reality of their suffering. In a war fought on many fronts, YOU have the ability to make an impact in the battle to win over the hearts and minds of inconsiderate man.

As you read this remember you have the same tools in your hands as I have tonight. You may not be making the bullets but you certainly have the ability to fire the guns. Will Fowlds

Kariega update Monday 27 March 11pm

Ronel — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:19:14 +0000

Themba’s passing has been desperately tragic and I know that everyone at Kariega is hurting badly having been so intimately involved in his personal struggle to survive. Having deliberated so much about putting him to sleep the day before, his inability to get himself out of the waterhole was a clear indication that he had grown too weak to manage even the simple things he was used to doing.

As I said on day 23 the benefit of hindsight would be the judge of my decisions and now that all information has been revealed, I have to concede that I made the wrong call two days ago. This is my burden, and mine alone.

From the start of this campaign to save these animals we have been determined to ensure that whatever the outcome, I would consult with as many people as possible, give whatever treatment we thought was necessary and ensure that whatever we learned from Themba and Thandi would be used to improve the chances of future survivors. To be true to this promise, under very difficult circumstances, I conducted a post mortem on him with the aid of some of the Kariega team who have been close to him.

What I found hidden under his thick protective skin, has extended my admiration for him even further. The evidence of that first night of assault and what his body endured as he lay there, weakened by pain, loss of blood and the poacher’s drugs, was astounding. It could never be ascertained how long he has been in that position against his left side with his back leg under the weight of his body, so we never knew the exact extent of his injuries. Our normal options to x-ray or scan his body, as we would a smaller animal or pet, simply were not available to us given the size of him. We did our best to use conventional tests on bloods cells and serum to try and get an indication of the extent and progress of conditions not visible from the outside. But the harsh truth of it all, is that Themba’s injuries we far more extensive and far more severe than any of these indicators were able to tell us.

Not only was his bad leg severely damaged by the absence of life giving blood on that first night, he also had extensive damage to the muscles down the left side of his rib cage (intercostals) as well as muscle damage into his left front leg (pectoral muscle groups). The fact that he was able to move as well as he did in the front part of his body is a testimony to the resilience of this rhino. What the post mortem has revealed is that he would never have regained adequate use of his leg and in my mind, with this information now at hand, I now know that his passing was a blessing.

We buried him where he lay and as the ground proudly accepted him back, he took with him the tension that had become a part of that beautiful valley for the past 24 days.

This ordeal he has endured, set in motion by the senseless greed of men who know nothing of their suffering and probably don’t care, this fight which has revealed to us a will to survive beyond our previous comprehension, this tragedy which has captured the hearts of so many; what will his story teach us? What will Themba’s legacy be?

Does that will to survive not tell us the story of his ancestors, who survived when hundreds of thousands of others didn’t? Does his ability to hide such extensive injuries not tell us of a species who have been through the worst of what man and nature could throw at them and made it? Is his story not entwined with other stories that tell of the good side of man, which show that when we do care enough, we do have the ability to bring species like this back from the brink? Themba fought with such bravery to overcome that which the poachers stole from him. Kariega stood with him and gave him the best chance that they could offer him. Many others poured their time and assistance in helping us be the best we could be for him, and still we failed. Still I failed.

The past day’s events have taken me to the lowest point of my battle to help save a species. I know many others feel the same. What we do now is the true test of our resolve to overcome the evil that threatens to overwhelm the worlds remaining rhino. Our ability to act, to actually do something to make a difference, will be the measure of who we are.

On Day 14 I wrote, “Themba and Thandi, surrounded by all we value in nature, live on as icons of animal suffering and the determination to survive. They stand guard at the gate, one strong and one weak, that will lead to the demise of thousands more species because of our apathy. They are adopted, as champions of a cause which goes far beyond “Saving the Rhino” because if we don’t save the Rhino, who move us to this extent, what hope do we have of saving the rest.”

Even though Themba’s life is ended, he has moved us and his legacy lives on. From now on we focus all our treatment efforts on Thandi, even more determined to keep searching for ways to do better for rhino than what we currently can. The legacy of Themba, and all he has taught us, remains at the gate, with Thandi, reminding us of our shortcomings, motivating us to do more, so much more. My promise to him was that I will do everything that I possibly can to make every single day that he suffered count.

I gave two talks to schools today one at Kingwood College and one at St Andrews Prep. Over 600 school children who face the very real possibility of their adult lives devoid of rhino. These young lives are hungry to help save this species and what a powerful force they could be. After the second talk the boys of St Andrews Prep placed out almost 900 crosses along the side of the busy road which passes the school. Each cross representing a rhino killed by poachers since the beginning of 2010. Themba who has carried the heaviest of crosses, is represented there with so many others in the killing fields, a symbol of our shame, an icon of their struggle, an ambassador who now has the freedom to take their story around the world…with your help. Will Fowlds

Kariega update Sun 25 March, sad news …

Ronel — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:02:48 +0000

It is with a huge sense of grief that we regret to inform you of the passing of Themba this Sunday morning. In his compromised state he failed to remove himself from a waterhole he had been drinking at. In spite of efforts to assist him he passed away just after 9am. The whole Kariega team is devastated by this loss after such a dedicated effort to save his life. Our heart felt appreciation to all those that have extended their support over the past 3 weeks. We will miss him dearly and re-commit ourselves to keeping his legacy alive in an effort to spare all rhino from suffering the same fate.

Previous update:
Kariega update Sat 24th March 5pm
I went to Kariega today convinced that I was going to have to put Themba to
sleep. The first report for the day, was not good, as he didn’t start today
off very alert. Yesterdays situation combined with this news added up to
only one thing. So with much trepidation I approached the reserve knowing
that unless his circumstances changed my mind, euthanasia was not going to
be avoided. By the time I had got there he had perked up and seemed no
different to what he had been for the past 4 days. He passed more loose dung
overnight which is not good but he did do a bit of grazing during the two
hours of deliberation I spent with him.

The lab finally received the blood samples from 4 days back and they ran
them onto their analysers immediately and let me know straight away, which
was such a help. I consulted with Prof Reyers who has been assisting with
the interpretation of the blood tests and of so much benefit when there are
elements of doubt creeping into this case. Clinically he has deteriorated
since these samples were taken so any sign of a marked deterioration in the
major indicators, compared to the week before that, would have confirmed
the worst for me. Surprisingly, although many indicators are still very
worrying, there were signs of some improvement in his liver circumstances,
his kidneys showed a very mild deterioration but these were only
fractionally over normal limits before. His indicators of inflammation do
show a shift some up and some down but there was still regeneration of these
cells indicating that his bone marrow was still functioning. The most
concerning indicators were that his protein levels have been dropping and
there are indicators of dehydration although mild. The conclusion was that
there are not indicators of major system collapse or organ failure. Four
days old, but positive.

I then approached Themba on foot to guage his levels of alertness and went
in very close on purpose to force him to use his leg. His temperament is
still encouraging in that he is responsive and while I was close to him he
took a few mouthfuls of food. The use of his leg remains the same as he can
hardly take any weight on it. The discharge from his leg has improved mildly
over the past 2 days and is more bloody than before. With this information I
decided to immobilised him with a very low dose of anaesthetic. The final
barrier for me was to do a quick evaluation of his leg which, to my great
relief, hadn’t got any worse since I was last in there. The decision to
delay his euthanasia was made. We kept him down just long enough to give him
a full spectrum of injections before waking him up. He recovered well and
has taken a few mouthfuls of food since.

This is such a tough call to make and I am sure that many will question my
judgement given 23 days of struggle for him. I am comfortable that full
consideration to all circumstances have taken us this far and consultation
with other veterinary experts has given some guidance from outside of his
case. Should I have to go back on this decision and put him down tomorrow or
later, we will all look back and know that I have made the wrong call. For
now, without the benefit of that hindsight, he lives to fight another day.
Will fowlds

Kariega update Fri 23rd March 8pm

Ronel — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:38:44 +0000

The weather on the way to Kariega today couldn’t have been more reflective of the atmosphere concerning the rhino in that place. Sharp rays of bright sunshine pushing through the gloomy dark clouds that came rolling in off the sea nearby. News of Thandi is consistently promising as she spends much of her time with the mother and calf she knows well. Photographic evidence of her facial status has been difficult to come by but her behaviour gives no indication of the need for additional concern. There is no doubt that all these animals whether poached or not, have been traumatised by the ordeal as they are not their relaxed selves and keep to the thickets fringes for most of the day.

Jason has been reporting on Themba’s progress over the past 2 days when I was not able to be there in person. There has been a very gradual but noticeable decline in his condition since his last procedure. His levels of alertness are not what they were 4 days ago and he has lost more weight. His leg from the outside appears to be the same but we know that the problems lie within and these are very difficult to gauge. His use of the injured leg remains the same and if his proximity to the water hole is anything to go by, he is more uncomfortable than before as he hasn’t moved more than 100 meters from the water. For the first time his dung was a bit loose today and this is a worrying sign. I was relying on getting blood results today. These were going to be quite crucial in my understanding of his condition leading into the previous procedure, and possibly why he appears to have lost momentum since then. Delays in the courier service have cost us another day and they may well be quite academic by the time we get them. Very frustrating. So my concern for Themba is now definitely high. Jason reports that he has eaten better since I left his side in the early afternoon but I know his body cannot take too many more of these low days. He still gave me a few mock charges when approached but his response distance is now much closer than before and he only takes a few shorts steps. I don’t think it is simply because he is getting used to us being there either.

I have wrestled with decisions about Themba for 22 days and every day, including today, he has been true to his name by giving us enough hope to keep going with the treatment process. He has had his good days and bad days along the way and I know the longer he fights to survive under these conditions the more run down his system becomes. I constantly check my emotional bond with him and need to be sure that my professional mind is not clouded by the emotions that threaten to overwhelm me as I write these reports every evening. One thing I know is that when I am working with him, my actions are brutally cold and clinical and it is only when I am driving away from that beautiful, tortured place that I am overcome with such respect, admiration and compassion for these shamed and helpless creatures. Every day I hear of the compassion of so many people for their struggle to survive and it makes no logical sense to me that this tragedy continues to slam down on our rhino when so many people care. Today I gave a talk at a junior school and used the scene from Jurassic Park 1, that first game drive, to illustrate what young children could be missing out on one day. The look on children’s faces in awe of what once was, confirms that what we have left is priceless. There can be no value placed on these and so many other species. As much as we value our lives, we will be poor without them.

Today has been a tough day for Themba and unless the sun shines on his circumstances tomorrow, I may be faced with the toughest decisions yet.. We still have some high risk options we can use on him, but Themba’s life, like the lives of all rhino hangs in the balance of man’s will. Will fowlds

Kariega update Thurs 22nd March 9pm

Ronel — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:50:53 +0000

Visual sightings of Thandi confirm that she is eating and moving around
normally. We still do not have good images of her face so difficult to be
sure of her condition but I am comfortable that we can maintain low levels
of concern for her. Themba on the other hand has not been moving around
very much. He remains close to a large water hole and has been eating
although not as much as he was 3 days ago. He has spent some time with his
leg in the muddy water and knowing how many open spaces there are in his bad
leg, I shudder to think what has gone into that leg. In my experience of
other wild animals it is quite common for them to bathe in muddy water
without any apparent concern for wound contamination. From a medical
perspective this makes me cringe but I have witnessed some surprising
recoveries so it may not be as bad as what we perceive. After being very
proud of a surgical procedure I did once on an elephants eye and the degree
of care we had taken to work under sterile conditions, I had a report the
next day to say that he was standing in the water hole scooping up mud with
his trunk and rubbing it into his bad eye! That elephant whose eye I
considered removing, recovered so well that a year later I couldn’t tell
which eye I had operated on.

My levels of concern for Themba today are high. The results of his blood
tests will only be available in another day or two for comparison with
previous tests. These will be very important is assessing his chances
especially if his levels of activity, eating and drinking behaviour have not
improved by the end of tomorrow. As always, we have been overwhelmed by your
messages of encouragement which mean to much to me and I know the whole team
at Kariega are sustained by your words and your efforts to help Themba and
Thandi . I wish I could show these rhino how many people right across the
world are willing them to get well, it would take a stadium to fit us all
in. Your actions in spreading the word of their plight it starting to
ripple across the planet. I know that there are already students in China
who have been exposed to the video footage and are as appalled as we are.
This is such encouraging news as the one aspect of the rhino fight we have
been bad at has been reaching into the user countries. Please don’t
underestimate the power of these images in your hands and what they can
achieve in our quest to protect all rhino.

As the decision makers in global conservation plan to meet again to discuss
what can be done to reduce the killing, we need to keep driving hard at the
most fundamental layers of this war namely welfare, awareness and education.
The owners of Kariega gave me two directives at the start of this process,
firstly to do whatever I thought best for Themba and Thandi and secondly,
regardless of the outcome of either of them, to ensure that this process
would be to the benefit of all remaining rhino. Kariega have been amazing
in making all treatment and images freely available for use across the
world. Themba and Thandi have been even more amazing in showing us their
determination to live. What we learn about these horrific wounds will
certainly change the way we approach future cases such as this and with your
help improve the chances of many other rhino in the future. Often it takes a
crisis in life before we appreciate the things that are important to us.
Will this rhino crisis teach us what’s of value in the world? Will we show
ourselves that even though we face great odds, we will fight our way through
this crisis, and be stronger when we face the next one. Your response shows
me that there are enough of us to beat the criminals. Let’s show them that
enough IS enough. Will Fowlds

Kariega update Wed 21st March 7pm

Ronel — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:23:08 +0000

News from the Kariega team today is that Themba has moved over four hundred
meters he has drunk well but is not eating as well as we had hoped. Levels of concern
fluctuate between medium to high . This morning he hadn’t moved much and seemed to have taken his session yesterday quite badly but this afternoon he seems a little improved. Some fluid has come from the drainage holes in his leg overnight.
Comments from Prof Reyers warn of the possibility of liver infection. We are
not in a position to be able to do a liver scan or other diagnostic tests to
comfirm what could be happening in his liver but we do know that his
injuries are placing this organ under a lot of strain. Intensifying his anti-bioitc treatment would require even more regular immobilisations than we are currently risking as we don’t have other long acting treatment options to move onto.

Thandi is moving around well but is hiding up in the thickets and we have not been able to get images of her face for several days. The tracking teams are reporting a slight smell which may also indicate that infection is building up in her facial wounds. Its been 6 days since her last treatment
and I was hoping to be able to extend her treatment intervals after the previous assessment. Once we can get more visual information regarding her face, we will make a decision re her.

Today Paul Mills, who has given an enormous amount of his time and expertise to this process, has posted the video footage of Thandi’s treatment session on day 4. Reviewing these images and reliving some of those emotions is heart wrenching all over again. My mind seems to have chosen to forget how many loose pieces of skin and hanging bone we had to remove from her face and how deep and random the gashes were. All that precious tissue that now needs rebuilding is absolutely useless to poachers anyway. In fact it is probably a risk for them as it needs to be disposed of somewhere before the horn gets passed onto the next criminal in the greed chain. Such is the degree of lust for this horn that they will not risk leaving the smallest fragment of it behind and so they butcher extra inches of living, feeling flesh away in carrying out their monstrous deeds.
What will you and I do today to help stop this cruel onslaught. What weapons do we have to fight this war. Today, the whole team of dedicated, caring, rhino passionate people give you the undeniable truth of visual images that transend language and culture. How effective this weapon is depends on how far and wide you are prepared to spread it. While we struggle to bring an end to their suffering, we ask that you keep these images alive in the eyes of the world because today at least one other rhino went through this hell and tomorrow there will probably be more. Will fowlds

Kariega update Tues 20th March 7pm

Ronel — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:27:31 +0000

Day 19 and today we worked with Themba without catching sight of Thandi. We spent a long time with him assessing if there was any way we could avoid another anaesthetic. He appeared a little more lethargic to me and his leg is still giving him a lot of discomfort. Jason reported some lumps of pussy
fluid every time he lay down and I wasn’t sure which hole it was coming from. On the strength of his previous blood results which showed that his kidneys were in better shape than I had thought, I made the decision to go ahead with another procedure. We were joined by Dr Lamont today which was an honour for me as he has had more experience in the reconstruction of traumatised tissues than ten of me would ever get to see in a lifetime. As before the Kariega team of staff and volunteers swung into action and provided amazing, focused and dedicated work on a rhino which I know they would go to the ends of the earth for. The two worrying aspects from his blood results are the escalation of chemicals released by damaged liver and muscle cells. This was expected and we will only know the real significance of these values if today’s blood results show an improvement or not. To assist with this aspect of his care I have asked for the advice of Prof Reyers an expert veterinary clinical haematologist who has also offered to lend his expertise to this process.

Themba coped better with his anaesthetic today than the previous time. His
face is visibly improved and for the first time there were no maggots to be seen and there was very little necrotic tissue build up in his exposed nasal sinuses. The worrying news is that we are now seeing the full extent of his lack of blood on the night of the poaching and large areas of tissue have
broken down and become infected. He has a hole on the inside of his shin that I can get my hand into and the middle third of his tibia can be felt through this hole. This cavity extends down to just short of his hock joint.
The only way this infected tissue is able to escape is when he lies on his right side, so most of the time it has been sitting inside this cavity when we need it to leave the body. I was forced to make a drainage hole on the inside of his hock joint at the lowest point of the cavity through skin an
inch thick and in the process I have disrupted some arterial supply which I will need to watched carefully. The process which is taking place now inside his leg we sometime refer to as absessation. In this case we are talking about multiple cavities some of which interlead. The most important thing we can do for him now is to ensure that all dead tissues inside his leg have a chance to drain out and we need to ensure that the infection in the dead tissue does not get into the living tissues and cause more damage. We have sent a sample away for culture and to test is if the anti-biotics we are using will be able to kill these bacteria. He woke up fine from the drugs and managed to take a small amount of weight on this leg in his sedated state before we left him. It is always such a relief to see him stand up and I know that for the next few days he will feel more comfortable. In spite of the awful amount of damage to this leg, his body is visibly trying to make things right. My thanks to Dr Lamont who is now comprehensively on board and will begin his own process of research and forward planning in the
hope that we can restore their facial injuries to some level of dignity. The support for these two rhino is growing even more daily and we are so humbled by the efforts and contributions of so many people. It is difficult to predict what tomorrow will bring. For today, Themba is not another statistic and for this we are so so grateful! Will Fowlds

Kariega update Mon 19th March 9pm

Ronel — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:44:52 +0000

Themba is moving less and less every day, he is still eating and drinking well but our levels of concern are creeping up again and the fear of infection running out of control in that leg, worries us continuously. We will resist another anaesthetic at all costs but tomorrow, once again, we
prepare for this very real possibility. How much more of these can he take? Will this be the one that makes his body say enough is enough? Given all that he has gone through, the level of pressure on the team increases every time. Tomorrow morning we will re-asses his situation and once again weigh up risk vs benefit and pray we are doing the best thing for him. Thandi continues to move around all over the park and shows nothing to concern us.

With official figures on poached rhino during 2012 (up to 16th March) now listed as 135 animals I find it soul destroying to think that since the night of poaching of the Kariega three, we have lost 45 more rhino. This is now an average of three per day. In other words, the horrors of what we found on that morning of hell on the 2nd of March, has happened every day since then to rhino across our country. In spite of more cries of disgust,more arrests, more anti-poaching training and deployment we are currently loosing this battle. We need to do more.

Within this vortex of crime, greed, cruelty and human scum we can’t help but admire Themba and Thandi desperately trying to struggle their way out.
Thandi still making slow progress away from the gravity that tried to suck her in, Themba, the boy with the courage of a warrior scarcely managing to resist the current. The irony of their story is that should they live, should they free themselves of this life threatening situation, they become immune from the curse that the orchestrators of poaching have placed on all rhino. Because they will never grow horns again, the very symbol of their grand stature in natures order, they become worthless to poachers, no longer a target, free from mans greed, free from the threat that stalks every single rhino left on the planet. What a different life they will have if they make it through. Yes, survivors are important. They are important for the species and they are important for the fight. They motivate us in a war that for now we are losing. But we look at them and we learn from their fight, that every single one is important. Survivors of this level of brutality, win immunity. Please continue to support the Kariega team in fighting not just for their lives, but fighting for their immunity…for LIFE. Will Fowlds