Posted on 01/23/2022 11:00:13 AM PST by nickcarraway
A rhino will be released back into the wild after heartbreaking images showed it with tears running down its face after poachers attacked.
Touching footage shows Seha, a 4,500-pound Southern White rhino, being trained one day before he gets his first taste of freedom in six years.
He will be transported from a paddock into the wild tomorrow.
The huge moment comes after his horn was brutally hacked off by poachers in South Africa.
They left the rhino for dead in 2016 as he ‘wasn’t worth a bullet to put down’.
But the alarm was raised when police stumbled across the animal two weeks later.
Seha was rescued by wildlife veterinarian Johan Marais, who founded Saving the Survivors which saves animals that have fallen victim to traumatic incidents.
After moving to the Marataba Game Reserve in South Africa, Seha underwent 30 operations and recovered with the aid of three organisations and hundreds of donors.
Celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Lorraine Kelly took to Twitter to share the picture of the crying rhino when it went viral late last year.
Sharing the story on Twitter, Ricky said: ‘Devastating. I go from wanting to cry, to wanting to f***ing batter the c**** who did this.’
The upsetting photo was taken by British director and photographer Simon Needham, 55.
‘When I heard about Saving the Survivors within the community and after hearing what they do I offered my time to photograph the rhino to help promote their need to raise money’, Simon said.
‘Poachers butchered the rhino’s horns and removed parts of the bone in his skull as well.
‘The owners of the game reserve left him for dead for two weeks as he wasn’t worth a bullet to put him down, not without his horns.
‘The police noticed him and called Saving the Survivors to help him.
‘Six years later, Seha is now finally ready to go back into the wild, due to the effort and diligence of Johan Marais.’
In before the Kinzinger jokes…
Nope!
D’oh…didn’t make it.
Close but not cigar...
Too bad they can’t dehorn these RINOs
I’m not going to make fun or laugh at this. It’s a horrific story and I hope the people who did that — well, the nicest thing I can say is rot in hell.
Politics aside, I love rhinos and they are going extinct because poachers kill them for their horns, which the bleeping Chinese use for some kind of medicine.
Sad that this little one got hurt but really happy that it’s still alive.
Let’s not mention the rhino in the living room: China and Vietnam who are the buyers of these horns.
China gets a huge pass constantly.
Agree.
stories like this legit hurt my heart.
Poachers should be hung on the spot. Something has to be done to save these beautiful animals. Is it possible to shame the chinese for their love of these products taken from endangered species?
I didn’t see this coming, LOL!
That’s some mega~anthropomorphism you got there. Whew!!
The birds are also used to make handles for ceremonial knives for wealthy tribal Middle Easterners.
“Politics aside, I love rhinos and they are going extinct because poachers kill them for their horns, which the bleeping Chinese use for some kind of medicine.”
The f***ing Chinese think it gives them hard-ons. Some pretty pathetic folks if they need a rhino horn to get it up.
Not making fun of the Rhino, that was horrible. That was horrible.
However, we do have our own crying RINO.
He just so happens to be my congressman!
Bawl your eyes out, RINO!
Dreadful. I contribute to Sheldrick Wildlife in Africa, a terrific organization that saves elephants and rhinos. Founded decades ago by Dame Daphne Sheldrick who lived in Africa decades ago and set up her organization. I don’t think there would be any left without her efforts.
Got her book for Christmas,” Love, Life, and Elephants.” My daughter read it before she gave it to me and now she’s contributing too.
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