The re-wilding process is complete: an orphaned rhino is back in the wild, and having mated with a wild white rhino, has produced the next generation of wild rhino. With the catastrophic decline in numbers due to poaching, every rhino counts. This precious new calf contributes valuable genetic diversity.
Masingitta was one of the first five rewilded orphans our project partners released back into the wild in 2017. She arrived at the Closed Orphanage in November 2015. Her name means “miracle” in Tsonga. She was given this name as it took a very long 24 hours to track and find her, after her mother was killed by poachers. She arrived at the facility by helicopter, very traumatised and only three months old.
She joined a crash of four other orphaned rhino calves. Nicknamed “The Lucky Five”, these rhinos were all victims of poaching, their mothers killed for their horns. They were rescued and rehabilitated by our project team in South Africa over a period of two years – the calves arriving from different reserves and at different ages.
Last year, an adult wild white rhino bull was seen following the Lucky Five and mating with Masingitta. At approx. five and a half years of age, Masingitta was now old enough to breed.
These are critical early days for a new mother who was rescued as a young orphan from poaching. Our priority is now to protect her privacy as she bonds with her new calf.
We are very excited to see our efforts over the years producing amazing results back in the wild and this is only made possible by the amazingly generous donations from people like you! We are proud to be saving these Rhinos so our children and their children will hopefully be able to see them in the wild in the future. To find out more about our project visit our project page
Thank you to Harriet, Project Coordinator, for preparing this amazing story for us to share!
