Rhino Poaching Survivor, Philippa Has a New Calf – Her Second Baby

by jabulanisafari

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Philippa has had a new baby! We were so excited and moved to see a new calf following rhino poaching survivor, Philippa around this month – October 2024.

This is Philippa’s second calf since she was rewilded. Philippa was rescued on 18 January 2016 after being attacked by poachers.  Philippa giving birth to calves in the wild gives us great hope that she has healed from her traumatic past and can thrive in her protected wilderness.

Sadly, her mother was also attacked and died while pregnant, causing two generations of rhinos to be pointlessly murdered. Philippa had endured the trauma and pain of her attack and witnessed the violent killing of her mother, too. The poachers used a drug to sedate the pair, called Etorphine, commonly known as M99, whilst they sawed off their horns. Philippa’s entire sinus cavity was left open and exposed. Our hearts broke when we first saw her on her arrival at HESC.

The team decided to name the rhino Philippa after two women who were important to them. The first was Adine’s grandmother, Philippina, an extremely hard-working nurse who was instrumental at HESC. The second was a lady named Philippa Kort, a representative for Jabulani in the USA. Sadly, both passed away due to cancer. It was a very special name for us, and this brave rhino certainly deserves it.

Wildlife vet, Dr Peter Rogers and Janelle Goodrich treating Philippa

Adine and the team at HESC started on Philippa’s first treatment. Their previous experience treating Lions Den and Dingle Dell equipped them to assess and treat her. A series of treatments took place over the months following her arrival. By April, the wound had started to close and to show excellent progress. But the most challenging part of the treatment was finding Philippa. She had a knack for knowing when we would be coming for treatment, and she would bolt into the bush. The team would literally take a few hours to complete the process of finding her and sedating her.

At first, they placed her with other rhino rescues, Lion’s Den and Dingle Dell, though they were a bit bigger and older than her. They took some time to settle in with one another, but they eventually got on well. In August 2016, Philippa had her final treatment, as the wound had healed well seven months after her attack.

Philippa and her first calf
Philippa’s new calf, photographed by Ranger Kyle in October 2024

2016 saw the arrival of another rhino bull, Ike, which made the team reevaluate all of the rhinos’ living arrangements. Philippa and Ike were better suited to share their land, as both were particularly wary of humans and avoided contact as much as possible. According to HESC, it was love at first sight for these two rhinos.

Ike arrived at HESC after a poaching incident left him with his horn hacked off. Extremely skittish when he first arrived, Ike not only found healing at the centre, but also the love of his life, Phillipa. Sociable Philippa’s presence contributed to Ike becoming more relaxed. Following the pair’s healing, they were able to be rewilded, and released into a Big 5 reserve for a second chance at life in the wild.

Adine’s work at HESC involved treating, rehabilitating, and releasing injured and orphaned rhinos due to poaching incidents. The team rehabilitated and reintegrated several rhinos, including Philippa, Ike, Gertjie, and Matimba.

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