Read Danger in the Dust Online
Authors: Sally Grindley
Danger in the Dust (7 page)
‘He’s going to fire a tranquilliser dart to stop her running off,’ Binti explained.
‘But isn’t that what they want her to do?’ asked Aesha.
‘They need to make sure she’s calm and that she goes in the right direction,’ said Binti.
Harriet began to move forward, crashing her feet on the metal ramp, as though beating out a warning. Rajesh opened fire and buried a dart in the animal’s rump. The rhino continued forward. Her front feet left the ramp and found the softness of grass. In another couple of steps, she had cleared the ramp completely. She began to sway, her huge body rocking precariously. The men ran out from behind the lorry, surrounded her and carefully lowered her to the ground.
The moment Rajesh signalled that it was safe, everyone sprang into action. Two men closed the crate and drove the lorry behind a patch of dense vegetation so that it was scarcely visible. Another man followed with the truck. Peter picked up his photographic equipment and moved closer to the sedated rhino.
Rajesh crouched down beside her and beckoned to Joe and Aesha.
‘Come,’ he said. ‘Let me introduce you to Harriet.’
Aesha, Joe and Binti jumped down from the truck. They hurried over to the rhino and knelt next to her.
‘Wow!’ said Joe. ‘She’s amazing!’
Jack knelt down with them, while Rajesh monitored her heartbeat and then allowed Binti to check it as well.
‘She’s the most incredible creature, isn’t she?’ Jack said. ‘She certainly wouldn’t have looked out of place at the time of the dinosaurs.’
‘She’s extraordinary,’ said Binti.
Joe studied her wrinkled browny-grey hide, her fat stumpy legs and short tail. Rajesh pointed to a patch of skin that was mottled and bumpy.
‘This is caused by parasites like ticks,’ he explained. ‘Oxpecker birds do a great job of cleaning them off, but it’s a never-ending battle.’
Aesha could hardly bring herself to watch, but Joe stared intently as Rajesh pinched out several ticks and scrubbed the mottled skin with a stiff brush.
‘We want Harriet to look her best, don’t we?’ Rajesh grinned.
Joe picked up his camera and took several photographs of her.
And I thought I wouldn’t be taking close-up shots of a rhino!
‘We haven’t got long now,’ said Rajesh, getting to his feet. ‘When Harriet wakes up she needs to feel at home, so are you ready to help?’
Joe and Aesha nodded.
‘We’ve removed all distractions, and now there’s something else we need to do,’ Rajesh continued.
He walked over to one of the men, who was holding four buckets. He took two of the buckets and returned with them to a puzzled-looking Joe and Aesha.
‘Would you like to spread this around for me? It will reassure Harriet that there are other rhinos in the vicinity.’
Rajesh waited for their reaction. The buckets were full of rhino dung.
Joe chuckled. ‘It won’t be the first time we’ve had to deal with poo,’ he said, remembering when he and Aesha had helped train dogs to identify tiger scat in eastern Russia.
Aesha pulled a face. ‘I’m glad I don’t need to be surrounded by dung to feel at home,’ she remarked as, rather disgustedly, she took hold of a bucket.
‘Just general mess in your case,’ said Peter, taking a quick photograph of them as they stood there with their buckets.
‘You’re not funny, Dad,’ Aesha replied scornfully.
Rajesh told them exactly what he wanted them to do, asked them to be quick and then knelt down with Harriet to check her pulse again.
Aesha set about tipping small piles of dung next to the rhino. Joe, feeling important despite the job he had been tasked with, laid a trail leading towards the reserve, helped by Jack and one of the other men.
‘I’ve done a lot of strange things in my life,’ Jack said, ‘but this one takes some beating.’
‘I bet you haven’t put your arm up a cow’s bottom like Mum has to,’ Joe said, tipping out the last of the dung.
‘No, and I think I’ll pass on that.’ Jack laughed. ‘All done here,’ he called back to Rajesh.
‘Good job,’ Rajesh replied. ‘It’s nearly time to bring Harriet round, so all of you need to move well out of sight.’
The Brook family and Jack hurried to where the truck was parked and climbed into the back of it. Peter clambered on to the roof with his equipment, and prepared to take a video of Harriet’s escape to freedom.
From their cover, Joe watched as Rajesh leant over the comatose rhino and administered an antidote to the tranquilliser. The rest of the men stood by, ready to act as soon as she made any sign of movement.
Harriet’s ears twitched first, and then one of her legs shook. Rajesh laid a cloth over her face, which Binti explained to Aesha and Joe was to prevent her from trying to bolt the minute she was upright.
‘If she can’t see, she’ll stay still,’ Binti said.
Aided by the men, the rhino climbed unsteadily to her feet, at which point they fled into the bushes, leaving Rajesh on his own. As soon as everyone was hidden, the biologist pulled the cloth from Harriet’s face and walked backwards away from her.
Harriet gazed uncertainly at the unfamiliar world that opened up in front of her, her tiny eyes trying to find their focus, her ears swivelling to and fro.
‘The poor thing is wondering where on earth she is,’ whispered Aesha.
‘Can you imagine being dumped in the middle of nowhere, waking up as if from a dream and finding yourself completely on your own?’ said Jack.
‘I hope she’ll learn to love her new home and thrive here,’ said Rajesh, coming over to join them.
After a few moments, Harriet seemed to catch the scent of a pile of rhino droppings. She plodded over, lowered her head towards them, and then trotted on to another pile and another.
‘She’s going in the right direction,’ whispered Joe. ‘She’s following our poo trail!’
‘She’s grazing on some grass now,’ said Rajesh. ‘That’s a good sign. She wouldn’t be doing that if she wasn’t relaxed.’
Joe was delighted at the part he had played in Harriet’s release. He linked arms with his mother. ‘We’ve had the most amazing rhino adventures, haven’t we, Mum?’
They continued to watch Harriet for well over an hour. She took her time, checking out every last fraction of the area around the trail of dung, sniffing at the vegetation and foraging among the branches of low trees. With every step, she moved further away from her spectators and deeper into the park.
And then, suddenly, without any warning, she bolted. One minute she was eating, the next she was off, almost as if something had frightened her and she couldn’t wait to get away from it. The last they saw of her was her ample rump disappearing through a dense row of bushes.
‘That’s a great last photo I’ve just taken,’ Peter said, smiling.
‘Let’s hope Harriet meets the rhino of her dreams, produces healthy offspring and lives to a ripe old age,’ said Binti.
‘You’re such a romantic.’ Peter laughed.
‘Poachers had better not find her,’ said Joe.
‘She’s got the best of chances,’ said Rajesh. ‘And tomorrow it will be Kojo’s turn to run free, but in a different part of the reserve.’
Joe wished he could be there too, as they said their goodbyes to Jack and Rajesh and his team, until he remembered that his family was going to Mzima Springs to see the crocodiles and hippos.
I can’t believe how many different things we’ve done and places we’ve been and animals we’ve seen already, and the trip isn’t over yet!
Back at the lodge that evening, the Brook family reflected upon their experiences while they watched the animals coming and going from the waterhole.
‘This beats television, don’t you think?’ said Peter.
‘I can’t stop looking around,’ said Joe. ‘You just never know what’s going to arrive next.’
‘I’m half-expecting a rhino to appear,’ said Aesha.
‘As long as it’s not Harriet!’ Joe exclaimed.
‘If she does appear, she’ll definitely take the prize for being the fastest animal on earth!’ Binti laughed.
‘Rhinos are surprisingly quick for such a large animal,’ said Peter. ‘Our Harriet galloped off like a racehorse!’
‘I wonder what will happen to our Rombo,’ said Joe. ‘I can’t wait to read the first newsletter about him. I hope he can be rehabilitated eventually, too.’
‘Will we be able to visit him again before he leaves the orphanage?’ Aesha asked.
Binti smiled at her. ‘Have you changed your mind about rhinos?’
Aesha shrugged. ‘I still think they look grumpy,’ she said, ‘and I never want to be attacked by one again, but they’re sort of beautiful in their own way, and there’s nothing else like them.’
‘A bit like my daughter, then.’ Peter chuckled, which earned a snort of disdain from Aesha.
All of a sudden Joe remembered that they hadn’t seen a leopard. He stared at the waterhole, willing one to appear.
‘We haven’t seen a leopard,’ he said, voicing his disappointment. ‘Do you think we might tomorrow?’
‘Who knows?’ said Binti. ‘That’s what’s so marvellous about being here. It’s gloriously unpredictable and that’s how life in the wild should be. It’s easy to forget that the animals out there are fighting for their survival. Nobody is standing round the corner with a bag of goodies to feed them with, and if they don’t show up to order then that’s what makes it all the more exciting when they do appear.’
‘If you look round now,’ Peter added, ‘you might not see a leopard, but there’s something very special heading in your direction.’
Joe spun round to see a vervet monkey scooting along the balcony towards him. Before he knew what was happening, the monkey snatched a piece of bread from his plate and ran off, shrieking triumphantly.
‘You see what I mean?’ Binti laughed. ‘It’s gloriously unpredictable, and we’ve been very, very lucky to see what we’ve seen.’
Joe nodded. ‘And there’s still more to come.’
ZSL London Zoo is a very famous part of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
For almost two hundred years, we have been working tirelessly to provide hope and a home to thousands of animals.
And it’s not just the animals at ZSL’s Zoos in London and Whipsnade that we are caring for. Our conservationists are working in more than 50 countries to help protect animals in the wild.
In Nepal and Kenya we are fighting to protect the highly threatened greater one-horned and black rhinos through vital conservation projects.
But all of this wouldn’t be possible without your help. As a charity we rely entirely on the generosity of our supporters to continue this vital work.
By buying this book, you have made an essential contribution to help protect animals.
Thank you.
Find out more at
zsl.org
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