A stampede to travel rhino air
WHAT has six horns, four tails and can fly? A cargo plane carrying three rhinos from Manston airport to Tanzania – that's what.
The eastern black rhinos from Port Lympne Animal Park, near Hythe, were flown from the airport last Saturday to bolster the endangered species' numbers in the wild.
Monduli, a male, and the two females Grumeti and Zawadi were given first-class treatment in a modified DHL Express Boeing 757.
Airport boss Charles Buchanan said: "While our team may be more used to handling horses through our Border Equine Post, the three crated rhinos were expertly loaded and the DHL team then quickly got them on their journey back to the wild."
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The three rhinos received an in-flight meal including four bales of Lucerne hay, a box of bananas and three drums of water.
Eastern black rhinos are "critically endangered" with numbers hit by large-scale poaching.
In the early 1990s there were only 2,500 in the wild. Numbers have recovered mildly since.
The Aspinall Foundation, which runs Port Lympne and Howletts wild animal parks, transported the three beauties to the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary for release.
Chairman of the foundation Damian Aspinall said: "The number of animals that we are releasing will bring a much-needed boost to indigenous populations, currently under the real threat of extinction."
The three rhinos flew for ten hours to Bergamo in Italy, where the plane refuelled, before completing the journey to Kilimanjaro National Airport in Tanzania. From there the rhinos were driven to the national park.
For more information about the Aspinall Foundation, go to www. aspinallfoundation.org
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