Four-tonne rhinoceros airlifted to new home in South Africa

A four tonne rhino is airlifted to his new home in the Zululand region of Kwa-Zulu Natal

 

Moving house is a difficult and joyless process for anyone, but the ordeal of packing boxes into a van has nothing on the job faced by animal conservationists at South Africa's KwaZulu Natal game reserve.

As part of a process to maintain the health of the species, pairs of rhinoceroses in the Zululand region are relocated every year, their location kept safe to save the endangered species from poachers.

In order to do so, some of the animals are darted with anaesthetic before being airlifted by helicopter to their new homes.

Photographer Em Gatland, of KwaZulu Natal, memorably captured one such operation in the case of a four-tonne rhinoceros.

"It was a very moving and emotional moment and a completely new experience for me," the photographer said.

"Airlifting the rhino was a big team operation and the biggest difficulty for me was manoeuvring in-between people to get a good picture of the rhino.

"I didn't want to get in the way of the people working to get the massive mammal airlifted but I'm glad I managed to get some good shots.

The rhino will now be closely monitored for five weeks to make sure it is happy in its new environment.

By Andrew Marszal