A three-day-old rhino born at Werribee Open Range zoo has died after suffering an “aggressive” bacterial infection, the zoo has confirmed.
Veterinary staff decided to put the baby rhino down after an endoscopy revealed that the infection had caused irreparable damage to its stomach.
After its birth on Saturday, the infant female rhino was placed in round-the-clock intensive care due to an infection contracted from her mother, Si Si.
Zoo staff said the rhino initially responded well to antibiotics but then started to lose interest in drinking her milk and was showing signs of discomfort. The endoscopy showed an inflammation of the stomach lining due to an additional infection. The zoo said the condition was incurable.
The rhino was given the interim name of Salt, until an African name was chosen. She had an 18-month-old sister called Kipenzi.
The calf was a southern white rhino, a species that numbers just 20,000 in the wild and has suffered from a record year of illegal poaching in South Africa. Werribee zoo, west of Melbourne, is part of a breeding program for the species.
The zoo’s director, Sally Lewis, said the loss of the rhino was deeply distressing for the zoo’s team.
“For the last three days our veterinary team have worked around the clock to care for our rhino calf and to lose her now, after those critical first few days, is devastating,” she said.
“The loss of this calf is a huge blow for us, particularly with a species that is so under threat. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from the community over the last few days, as they have shared our joy in the arrival of this precious baby and our concern about her health.”
The zoo’s senior veterinarian, Natalie Rourke, said staff were “cautiously optimistic” about the calf’s prospects when the first infection was found and treated, only for a further scan to show further damage.
“When we examined the rhino calf under anaesthetic we found that the damage to her stomach was so severe that any attempt at surgery would only prolong her pain,” Rourke said.
“This is when we made the heart-breaking decision to end her suffering.”
