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\n By Cody Jackson and David Fischer with AP\n<\/p>\n
\n Published on
\n 19\/02\/2026 – 10:24 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n
Corralling a wild rhinoceros into a small chute to give it eyedrops might seem like an absurd plan. But if it’s absurd and it works, then it’s worth the risk.<\/p>\n
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Animal behaviourists partnering with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida travelled to Africa in August to help an endangered white rhino with a life-threatening, parasitic eye infection.<\/p>\n
Daniel Terblanche, a security manager with Imvelo Safari Lodges, said no one in Zimbabwe would have come up with the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve me, we didn\u2019t think of it; it was a completely ridiculous idea to us,” Terblanche said. “But without trying all of the things that we could to rectify that situation, we would have been in trouble, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘A blind rhino is a dead rhino’<\/p>\n
Outside of Zimbabwe\u2019s Hwange National Park, the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative<\/a>, with support from Imvelo Safari Lodges, engages local communities to reintroduce southern white rhinos to communal lands for the first time in the nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n Palm Beach Zoo CEO and President Margo McKnight was visiting the area last year when Imvelo Safari Lodges managing director Mark Butcher told her a health scare with a male rhino named Thuza could jeopardise the future of the program.<\/p>\n \u201cThis rhino had bleeding eyes. He was rubbing his eyes,” Butcher said. \u201cAnd I was looking at a potential where this guy was gonna lose his eyesight. And this is in a pilot project that\u2019s got fantastic vision for a future for conservation throughout Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n Thad and Angi Lacinak, founders of animal behaviour and welfare consulting service Precision Behavior, travelled to Zimbabwe to work with the anti-poacher scouts. They developed a plan based on lessons learned at Palm Beach Zoo, where animals are taught to voluntarily participate in their own care.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this few animals in this location in Africa, it was essential that we save all of them,” Angi Lacinak said. “So when they called and said, Thuza is going to lose his eye, a blind rhino<\/a> is a dead rhino. So no matter what it took, we were going to go over there and try.\u201d<\/p>\n Teaching animals to voluntarily participate in their own care<\/p>\n The idea was to coax Thuza into a tight space with his favourite foods and then to desensitise him to humans touching and squirting water on the face.<\/p>\n \u201cWithin about a week, we were actually putting the eye drops strategically in his eyes while he held for it,” Lacinak said. “And by the end of two weeks, we had transferred that skill set to not only Daniel, who was in charge of leading their guards, but to the guards.\u201d<\/p>\n