Rest in peace rhino friend. You'll never be forgotten.

RIP.

I've been an environmentalist for 40 years and it's bad. Another GWBush idiocy---helping the AIDS crisis by telling the world to be celibate. What a disaster.

That person did the right thing, but given the grave status of Nola's species, it can't possibly have been easy. (I doubt it ever is, but this must have been even harder.) So I'll hoist two glasses tonight - one for Nola, and another for the incredibly brave vet.

Cheers.

with the more common southern white rhinos...

what a f'ing forsaken hole that appears to be. Poor animal had to be in that jail 41 years. What a human species we are

big open areas to run freely with other species such as giraffes in a protected preserve.

The Zoo's enclosure is older and smalller, though not quite as cramped as that photo would make it appear.

The good news is they saved some frozen sperm or embryos from several rhinos that have passed, and hope to continue the species through implanting embryos in females of a related rhino species.

this is the same Zoo that brought Calif. Condors back from near extinct; once there were only about 19 left in the world, and now there are hundreds. They got pandas to breed when some other zoos couldn't. They also have been successful at reintroducing some other species back into the wild.

If anyone can do this, hopefully then can.

That enclosure is probably where she was being kept for treatment.

All the other animals are living in bio-enclosures that are several acres wide so there is the least amount of environmental shock when/if they would be released back into their native environment or if they are being brought from a native environment.

The San Diego Zoo, a separate facility in the middle of the city of San Diego, has gotten rid of small cages and enclosures that limit activity for their animals, and has concentrated on larger multi-level exhibit environmentally-accurate (as could be) enclosures that provide the greatest amount of space for the animal to play and be active in - and not be harassed by visitors. They may not be able to migrate as they would in their native environment, but they have the ability to act as naturally as they normally would in the wild - if they were in a safe watering hole type location with adequate food resources.

Not saying that zoos and wildlife parks that are not in their native country are the most optimal places for an animal to live, but sometimes, that's the only safety a species has any more.


Haele

These photos were taken at the Safari Park (better known by it's former name, The San Diego Wild Animal Park). They give you a perspective of the enclosure size this rhino lived in. I live five minutes away from the Park. It's huge, 1,800 acres. While I'm not the biggest fan of zoos in general, this place is far different than your average zoo.