Florida conservationists save vision of endangered African rhino with ‘bleeding eyes’
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Getting a massive wild rhinoceros to calmly stand in a narrow chute so caregivers could administer eye drops might have sounded absurd at first. But an unconventional plan ultimately helped save the animal’s vision — and possibly its life.
Animal behavior specialists working with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society traveled to Zimbabwe last August to treat an endangered southern white rhino suffering from a severe parasitic eye infection.
Daniel Terblanche, a security manager with Imvelo Safari Lodges, said the idea initially seemed unthinkable to local teams.
“Believe me, we didn’t think of it. It was completely ridiculous to us,” he said. “But if we hadn’t tried everything possible, we would have been in serious trouble.”
The rhino, a male named Thuza, lives near Hwange National Park as part of the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative, a project supported by Imvelo Safari Lodges that is reintroducing southern white rhinos onto communal lands in Zimbabwe for the first time.
Palm Beach Zoo President and CEO Margo McKnight learned of Thuza’s condition during a visit to the region. Imvelo managing director Mark Butcher warned that the rhino’s worsening eye injury could threaten not only Thuza’s survival but also the future of the pilot conservation program.
“This rhino had bleeding eyes. He was rubbing them constantly,” Butcher said. “I was looking at the possibility that he could go blind — and this is a project with tremendous potential for conservation across Africa.”
To intervene, behavior experts Thad and Angi Lacinak of Precision Behavior traveled to Zimbabwe to work alongside anti-poaching scouts. Drawing on training methods used at the Palm Beach Zoo — where animals are conditioned to voluntarily participate in their own medical care — they devised a plan to safely treat Thuza in the wild.
“With so few animals in this population, saving every one of them was critical,” Angi Lacinak said. “When we heard Thuza might lose his eye, we knew a blind rhino wouldn’t survive. We were determined to try.”
Their approach was to lure Thuza into a confined space using his favorite foods, then gradually acclimate him to human presence, touch, and water being applied to his face. The goal was to build enough trust and routine that medication could be delivered without restraint or sedation.
“Within about a week, we were placing eye drops directly into his eyes while he stood calmly,” Lacinak said. “By the end of two weeks, Daniel and the guard teams were fully trained to continue the treatment themselves.”
Southern white rhinos are classified as near threatened, with roughly 16,000 remaining in the wild. Poaching and habitat loss continue to pose major risks, making each individual animal vital to conservation efforts.
Today, Thuza’s caretakers report steady improvement.
“They’re getting medication into his eyes every day,” Lacinak said. “The rhinos are thriving now, and the team feels confident the problem has been solved.”
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