“I don’t need to remind you all how important today is – not just for these two animals, but…” Doctor William Fowlds falls silent as the thought of losing the rhino species forms a lump in his throat.
“I don’t need to remind you all how important today is – not just for these two animals, but…” Doctor William Fowlds falls silent as the thought of losing the rhino species forms a lump in his throat.
A team of game rangers, vets and assistants waits while he finds his voice in the tense pre-dawn stillness. They are all gathered to listen to his briefing before they set out for the day to treat Themba and Thandi, the two rhinos who are struggling for survival after being attacked by poachers a week previously.
Will Fowlds was born in Grahamstown and went to school here, although his home is on Amakhala reserve, halfway to Port Elizabeth. After school he spent 18 months in the army, studied veterinary science in Pretoria then, on the advice of his professor, left for England.
It was during these five years spent treating cats and dogs that he met his wife, had his first child and fell in love with South African wildlife all over again. He is now the vet on call for Kariega, and sees his duty there as twofold: first, to care for the creatures and give them the medical care they need; and second, to publicise their plight.
This mission to create awareness about rhino poaching led him to one of the most difficult decisions of his life – one which still haunts him. Geza was a rhino on Amakhala reserve before he was moved to Kariega a few years ago. One fateful day last year, he was found with his horns hacked off, dying in agony.
Fowlds rushed to treat him, but his wounds were too severe. In an effort to expose the horror of poaching, Fowlds made the decision to delay Geza’s euthanasia, and stayed with him for three last hours of hell while a cameraman captured the ordeal.
This time round, Fowlds is prepared with an army of journalists as he approaches Thandi, the female rhino recently attacked at Kariega. A warm, grassy scent wafts off her colossal body, but not her face. The gaping holes where her horns used to be fill the air with the sickly stench of blood and rot. Fowlds's fingers are strong and sure as they delve into her sinus cavities, pulling out handfuls of squirming, bloody maggots.
There is not a second of hesitation as he takes a hand saw and grinds through the exposed bone on her face, shaving off the rotted outer parts, and cutting away the infected flesh with a scalpel.
“I want to go right up into the sinuses with that hosepipe,” he says, and a fresh stream of water is funnelled through a pipe, flushing out the dirt and parasites from Thandi’s mutilated face. Her agony is far from over though: he takes a scrubbing brush, the rough type you could scrub the floor with, and attacks the wound without a flinch.
Every bit of dirt must be scrubbed away, otherwise the infection could travel deep into her bones, beyond any hope of cure. He’s done the best he can for her, although he’s worried about the bone cavities. He squirts a bright yellow disinfectant over and into the oozing wounds, then covers it all with Stockholm Tar, a sticky black substance that will help seal off the vulnerable flesh.
The black, yellow and red smears extend beyond the surgical gloves up his forearms. He tears the gloves off and orders everyone to get well away from Thandi, because she’ll be waking up in a few minutes – and that’s 1 700-odd kilograms in one hell of a lot of pain. Fowlds looks on the magnificent creature without a hint of the tears that were so close to the surface earlier in the day. “It does affect me,” he says later.
“Not when I’m there, because I’m 100% focused. I actually feel absolutely nothing for them while I’m with them – inside it’s very hard, cold and calculated. Soon as I step back from that situation it just hits me hard.” Everyone who is there to bear witness to the struggle of the two rhinos is deeply affected, but none quite so profoundly as Fowlds.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with rhino, but I definitely have a soft spot for them,” he admits. “Even my family… they know me, and they are a bit worried by how badly it’s affected me, to the point where I think it’s bordering on post-traumatic stress.”
He believes this is a watershed moment for conservation, and for humanity, as the iconic rhino species is being depleted faster than anti-poaching methods can advance. “It’s really a critical time to show what we’re made of. It will indicate whether we have the ability to save a species, any species,” he says.
“If people stop having hope… we’ll lose them all.”
Ending the slaughter
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the biggest markets for rhino horn are in Vietnam, China and Korea, where the horns are luxury items. In Vietnam, they are given as extremely prestigious gifts, often between businessmen looking for a favour.
They are believed to ease hangovers and also rumoured in Vietnam to cure cancer, although this claim is rejected in China by traditional medicine experts. The way forward, Dr Fowlds believes, is to raise as much awareness as possible about the poaching problem.
He hopes that by spreading the news of the brutality and mutilation, the consumer market for rhino horn will realise the true cost of the product and stop buying it. There is also the hope that if the movement generates enough momentum internationally, powerful countries such as the United States may donate or loan the technology desperately needed to better police game farms and trace poachers.
A deterrent measure considered as an alternative to dehorning in Kariega Game Reserve is injecting poison into the horn, making it unsuitable for human consumption, and advertising this fact in the hope that poachers would stay away.
The best option, however, would be complex military technology that allows for satellite monitoring of everything in the park – but the cost of this equipment is staggering, and even with it, the safety of the animals could not be assured.
What you can do is spread the word. Tell your friends about it, or share the information on Facebook. Regular updates directly from Dr Fowlds are available on the Kariega website and Facebook page, as well as photographs and footage of the treatments.
