Rhino orphan Thor receives intensive care

It’s been a tough two weeks for black rhino orphan Thor. At the beginning of the month, he sustained injuries from another sub-adult male rhino. The Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary team noticed that Thor was becoming lame in his hind legs and called in the help of veterinary experts.

Dr. Johan Marais from ‘Savings the Survivors,’ Dr. Ferreira du Plessis and Professor Tony Shakespeare made a special visit to Care for Wild to examine Thor, who, at that time, was unable to stand without support. They determined that he had a spinal injury. The silver lining was that he was not paralysed, so the team kept up hopes for his recovery.

With round-the-clock care and attention, after a week Thor managed to stand on his own legs!

The team have left no stone unturned and discovered that Thor responded well to soft tissue massage. Thanks to a generous supporter, he now has his very own Niagara Equissage (usually designed for horses), which sends powerful vibrations through his body and stimulates blood circulation, lymphatic drainage and joint mobility. It seems to be working very well for him!

We hope that Thor keeps up the fighting spirit that we all love him for! As a tiny calf Thor almost died twice and fought his way back each time. He is showing the same resilience now, so we are in good hope.